Test Garden Open Day: Public Gardens and Designed Landscapes
Presented by Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co)
DETAILS
Free, booking required
Fed Square
Test Garden, Russell Street Extension, Melbourne VIC, Australia
This open day presents a conversation in the Test Garden for Laak Boorndap at Fed Square on the role of landscape architecture in shaping cities, naturalistic planting as a global design movement and the importance of restoring biodiversity to urban spaces.
Laak Boorndap will bring 18,000 square metres of new open space, built on elevated decking, to a location estimated as having the second highest urban density in Australia. The garden will wrap around The Fox: NGV Contemporary, NGV International and Arts Centre Melbourne’s Hamer Hall and Theatres Building (under the Spire). It will support its local neighbourhood while providing public space for visitors from around the world.
This garden proposes a new approach for public gardens and designed landscapes in Australia, one rooted in the landscape’s past and present and committed to this place’s future as one of beauty, resilience and biodiversity.
Laak Boorndap is designed by the Melbourne studio of international design practice Hassell and New York’s SO-IL, alongside horticulturalists Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough, and Jac Semmler of Super Bloom.
Participants
Jon Hazelwood
Jon Hazelwood is a Principal Landscape Architect at Hassell. With over twenty-five years of experience in public realm and landscape architecture, Jon has guided projects from strategic planning phases through to detailed resolution and delivery. His international experience fosters discussions and challenges conventional norms. Jon's dual capability to think both locally and globally ensures his approach is deeply rooted in local context while considering regional, national and global best practices.In recent years, Jon has emphasised the significance of urban biodiversity. He is at the forefront of research, trials and demonstration projects that explore innovative methods for integrating people and pollinators within urban environments. Jon co-authored the NSW Government Architect’s Biodiversity in Place Framework, recently released in Australia, and serves as the lead designer for Laak Boorndap, an 18,000 m² urban garden central to the transformation of Melbourne’s Arts Precinct.
Sarah Tutton
As Director Programming & Interpretation at MAP Co (Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation), Sarah leads a team that develops and delivers a range of arts and community programs, working closely with precinct partners, community organisations and the wider arts sector, and also develops interpretative materials for a range of sites and platforms. Prior to MAP Co, Sarah was Chief Curator at ACMI, where she curated their permanent exhibition The Story of the Moving Image, as well as touring exhibitions such as DreamWorks Animation and Wonderland.Sarah has worked across many of Melbourne/Naarm’s key visual arts and cross-artform organisations – including Asialink Arts, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Experimenta Media Arts and Next Wave Festival – both at a board and organisational level, and has also worked as an independent curator and arts consultant.