Canberra's 'Grand Boulevard' recognised at landscape architecture awards

A vision more than 100 years in the making was one of three big winners at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (ALIA) ACT Chapter Awards on Thursday night.

Held at Makeshift in the Nishi Building, the industry celebrated the best landscape architecture projects in the nation’s capital.

Constitution Avenue Transformation was the recipient of the Award of Excellence in Civic Landscape.

Constitution Avenue – which links City Hill to Russell – was part of Walter Burley Griffin’s 1912 plan for Canberra, and he envisaged it as “high street or Grand Boulevard of the National Capital”.

The project was designed by Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture (JILA), in conjunction with the National Capital Authority, Hill Thalis, SMEC and AECOM. They worked on the project for more than a decade.

ALIA ACT president Gay Williamson praised the work of the contributors in the project.

“The commitment of the delivery team in meeting the project challenges and thoughtful leadership of the landscape architects, led to JILA delivering a holistic response to the character and quality of the urban landscape for Constitution Avenue,” she said.

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The Award of Excellence in Tourism went to Harris Hobbs Landscapes for contour 556 – a series of temporary public art installations around Lake Burley Griffin in 2016.

Held over three weeks, contour 556 was a festival on the shores of the lake that featured live performances and site-specific works by more than 48 local and international artists.

The festival will run biennially, with the next scheduled from October 5 to 28 this year.

SPACELAB received the Award of Excellence in Community Contribution, for Craft your Park in Finn Street, O’Connor.

An initiative by ALIA, the Craft your Park project redesigned three Canberra parks through engaging the local community. Canberra landscape architects submitted proposals, with a different agency designing each of the parks.

SPACELAB was praised for its consultation process and for translating stories and ideas that originated from groups across the community, including kindergarten children.

“We commend the SPACELAB team for their innovation and leadership in enabling the community to contribute in such a dynamic way in the Craft your Park project, and for raising the profile of landscape architecture in the process,”  Ms Williamson said.

The awards also recognised 10 other projects in the Canberra region.

“There are a number of projects from this year’s awards program that demonstrate the community and environmental benefits that come from proper community engagement and consultation; planning for green infrastructure and; involving landscape architects leading quality design projects at the early stages,” she added.