The team at Urbis are extremely proud to have received three 2024 Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Queensland Awards.
Announced at the AILA QLD awards ceremony on 13 June, Urbis won in three categories across health and education, civic places and play spaces.
Read on for a little more about each of these projects and we look forward to seeing these projects at the AILA National Awards later this year.
2024 Landscape Architecture Award for Health and Education Landscape | Rendu Towers
The landscape strategy at Rendu Towers was built primarily around experience and wellness for our older population. As Landscape Architects on the project, Urbis had a wonderful opportunity to optimise the health and wellbeing of residents using the tool of biophilic design. Knowing that a connection to nature enhances psychological wellbeing, our strategy was to ensure whether inside or outside, residents at Rendu would have a visual or physical connection to nature.
Jury Citation: “Collaborative leadership has delivered an innovative approach to ‘ageing in place’ that offers valuable experiences and genuine opportunities for residents to engage with nature, and the bustling community that surrounds them. Using green to blur the lines between the private and public realm, the landscape response is considered and meaningful in a way that supports a more inclusive and connected model of retirement living.”
2024 Landscape Architecture Award for Civic Landscape | Victoria Park / Barrambin Shelters and Furniture Suite
Following the first tranche of park enhancement works since the closure of the high-profile Victoria Park Golf Course, early works focused on providing bespoke park furniture, shelters and landscaped picnic nodes. These nodes aligned with the Urbis-led Victoria Park / Barrambin Master Plan guiding principles of recognition, restoration and reconnection.
Jury Citation: Drawing inspiration from engagement with local groups and the partnership with the Traditional Owners and First Nations people, each shelter has been elegantly sited and detailed to integrate sympathetically into the broader landscape of the park and its surrounds, and to take full advantage of each location selected. Collectively, the addition of these features contributes to visitor comfort and enjoyment of the park. Both the shelters and furniture display quality detailing and a high standard of finish.”
2024 Landscape Architecture Award for Play Spaces | Kool Beanz Academy
Located at Carrara, in a prominent position in front of Heritage Bank Stadium, Kool Beanz Academy is an early childhood centre born out of a partnership between the client, Coulsen Operations and the Gold Coast Suns AFL Club. An array of stakeholders and experts have brought this project to fruition, including civil engineers, flood engineers, architects, arborists, the Suns Football Club, the City of Gold Coast Council, play certifiers and early learning experts (including Autism Queensland). Ideals of inclusivity, health and wellbeing, a love of learning, connection to the natural world and fun are at the heart of this design.
Jury Citation: “Kool Beanz Academy exemplifies collaborative thinking with specific community values to accomplish the widest range of high-impact elements possible within a single design. Educational, fun and physically challenging playscapes are complimented with a strong planting palette for all visitors to enjoy. Overall, Kool Beanz supports high achievement across the criteria for Landscape Architecture.”
Congratulations to the team at Urbis on winning with these already loved projects within the Queensland community.
