A sophisticated and highly engaging wetland experience and a sensory play space designed to excite, stimulate and challenge Suneden Special School students, are just two of the innovative landscape projects being recognised at this year’s Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture (AILA) South Australian Awards.
Featuring 16 winners across four categories, the sold out Awards event held on Friday 4 September at Tenth and Gibson celebrated projects delivering better landscapes and experiences to people and places across the state.
South Australian practitioners have demonstrated the breadth of their involvement in the thoughtful design, delivery and management of significant and richly varied spaces throughout Adelaide and the state.
Taylor Cullity Lethlean was awarded the prestigious 2015 South Australian Medal for Landscape Architecture, for a complex and unique design of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens Wetland. The project has pushed expected boundaries of physical engagement with a seasonally shifting environment, providing close contact with water, vegetation and residing creatures, along with various art and installations along accessible trails.
Another winning project from the design category was recognised for working with a little budget and lots of imagination, to deliver a South Australian community some well-deserved happiness. The sensory play space at Suneden Special School by WAX Design features unique outdoor activity rooms prompting adventure, learning and discovery. The play space was crafted to improve the body awareness, problem solving skills, cognition, creativity and learning of students with intellectual and physical disabilities.
The full list of categories and award recipients for the 2015 AILA SA Landscape Architecture Awards are as follows:
Medal for Landscape Architecture
Adelaide Botanical Garden Wetlands
Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence – Design
Port Adelaide Renewal: Hart’s Mill Surrounds
Landscape Architecture Award – Design
Playford Alive Town Park
Suneden Sensory Playspace
Kingston Foreshore
Marryatville High School
Landscape Architecture Award – Planning
The Living City – Open Space strategy
Greater Riverbank Implementation Plan
Landscape Architecture Award of Excellence – Urban Design
Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga
Landscape Architecture Award – Urban Design
Adelaide City and Park Lands Wayfinding Strategy and Pilot Signage Projects
Tonsley
King William Road Masterplan
Landscape Architecture Award – Research and Communication
Healing Wounded Landscapes: The Role of Landscape Architects in Achieving Post-Mining Sustainability
Presidents’ Award
City Design and Transport Team – Adelaide City Council
Future Leader – Graduate
Susie Quinton
The Adelaide Review People’s Choice Award
Mary Potter Hospice Healing Garden