An elegant landscape connecting two commercial towers
Scott Carver is proud to have recently delivered the landscape for TRN House for Greenfields Development Company, the first standalone commercial building in Oran Park’s emerging Town Centre, and future headquarters of Greenfields themselves. The works included the public domain, plaza, atrium and rooftop landscape space.
The brief called for the provision of an elegant and uncluttered plaza that seamlessly connects into the public domain and flows through the core of the building’s atrium, blurring the boundaries between the interior and exterior spaces. Additionally, the inclusion of the Level 6 rooftop terrace provides the building with a relaxed socialising space away from street level.
In response to this vision, our landscape team honed their design response to focus on three key concepts whilst honouring the planning controls that govern the area.
Place: the creation of a high-quality commercial development which integrates into the local urban setting of the Oran Park Town Centre. Ensuring a cohesion with the Town Centre through consistency of materiality, detailing and quality.
Community: the public domain and landscape designed to complement the architecture of the development, while providing environmental amenity within an attractive setting. The design provides important community connections, creating spaces for people to congregate, meet and connect.
Workplace Wellness: the connections to landscape through the atrium space, plaza and rooftop, offers a high level of amenity and enhances ‘wellness’ in the workplace.
In addressing planning controls, the public domain has been designed to meet the objectives set out in the DCP which focuses on providing a high-quality public domain across the town centre. It was important to consider the relationship with the existing Town Centre and to allow for a seamless transition across the site.
The streetscapes are designed to be experienced as a pedestrian with environmental comfort and safety enhanced through the generosity, quality and detailing of the materials and landscape elements and the integration of CPTED / Safer by Design principles. Materials, street furniture, lighting and species selection have been made to match those already in use in the streets and public areas of the Town Centre to ensure the single unified character is maintained and enhanced.
The building forecourt space allows a smooth flow of access from the street into the commercial lobby and atrium space. It is defined by planting and stairs to mitigate the level differences and provide equitable access. Fixed seating is provided along with space to allow ground level active uses such as a cafe to utilise the space.
Moving into the atrium, landscape planter elements feature integrated seating contributing to the quality of the user experience whilst enhancing the visual character and air quality within the space, lit from above via the glazed roof light.
The southern plaza space is a continuum of the atrium, providing a significant breakout space for the amenity of staff and visitors. Defined planters include trees for shade and integrated seating whilst also providing visual interest through their sculptural forms. A BBQ and service bench are located under the protection of the pergola element which also integrates the car park entry and service structures to reduce their visual impact. In the future this space will provide a physical connection to a second commercial building to the south. Pedestrian access is provided along the building perimeter on the east and west with planting utilised to soften and define the pedestrian zones.
Moving up through the building, the rooftop provides fantastic amenity for those working within the commercial development, providing an oasis to retreat to for a break, ample space to enjoy lunch in the sun and group activities like corporate boot camp or yoga. The rooftop offers spaces of various scales to cater for individuals, small groups and larger gatherings with a mix of fixed elements including a central raised seating area, seating walls, proprietary seating elements and movable furniture to provide choice and variety. Shade is provided by the extension of the building roof structure through a pergola to create a larger covered area for groups and through the oversized pots with trees.
The sum of these parts is a well-considered development with workplace wellness and community at its core. Contributing to the success of the project was collaboration in its many forms from the gentle navigation of planning controls and design innovation, to the collaborative strength of the teams involved, summed up by Landscape Director Esther Dickins. “It has been a pleasure to work with GDC, Richard Crookes, AJC and the whole consultant team to see this development come to fruition. Truly a team that operates at the height of professionalism and collaboration making the process a pleasure every day and the result is a testament to this. Looking forward to seeing the workers and visitors enjoying the spaces we have created together.”
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