Switching Gears
Switching Gears
As part of the 2015 Festival of Landscape Architecture: This Public Life held a competition that asked students to respond to some very important questions: why do we seek escape from the city, and what forms of escape can we find within the urban environment?
An unprecedented 231 university students across 77 teams from Australia and New Zealand presented thought provoking designs and innovative strategies for making public spaces more inclusive. We are pleased to announce that Scott Carver is lucky enough to have been recently joined by two of these very talented students, Grace Hunt and Michele Williams (now UNSW graduates) who call our studio home.
As one of three finalists – and the only from Australia – Grace Hunt and Michele Williams along with their team mates Brinlee Pickering and Clare O’Brien presented Switching Gears, an urban masterplan of the Bays Precinct; an area sitting on the CBD’s edge, offering 80 hectares of largely government-owned land nestled in 94 hectares of waterways.
Celebrating the rich heritage of this site, Switching Gears illuminated the importance of local industry by championing existing industrial workings and dramatically altered natural conditions. The masterplan successfully celebrated the unique character of the sites layered past, which became the thinking behind designing three distinct public spaces within the site: Power Station Square, The Silo Light Rail Stop and the Glebe Island Apron. Switching Gears would offer a variety of elements that encourage interaction between people and industry, creating a new social fabric that facilitates transparent of activity and a celebration of the site’s industrial heritage.
Grace and Michele recently had the opportunity to present their work at This Public Life in Melbourne to an expert panel of judges including; David van der Leer (Van Alen Institute NYC), Ana Abram (Amphibious Lab UK), Cassandra Chilton (HASSELL VIC) and Adam Husband (Intergrain VIC).
While they didn’t take out top honours, they received commendation which is a fantastic achievement for their design team and the reputation of landscape architecture students in Australia.
At Scott Carver we are excited to be joined by budding, young talent and look forward to a bright future working with Grace and Michele – Welcome on board!
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