The main body of the park is like a rectangular transect through a native landscape terrain that is at one end a flat plane, but at the other, rolling dunes. This reinstated landscape is designed to exhibit the variety of native species that would have predominated pre-settlement with dunal characteristics of Eastern Surburb’s Banksia Shrub to the east transitioning to an integrated green roof wetland system to the west. The landscape is both resilient and functional with the wetlands filtering rejected water from the aquatic centre for greywater usages.
The sports facilities float within this fluid native landscape in contrast with the formal edges to the park. These are supported with activity spaces, barbecue areas and a playground to provide for leisure pursuits within a naturalistic setting. It’s not just a sports precinct, but an ecology of landscapes enriched by the seasons as change ebbs through the park. A defined depression of synthetic turf cuts a crisp spectator edge against this landscape while a skateboard park is interwoven within the undulations of the dunes to the east.
The lowering of the aquatic centre within the park avoids complicating the appreciation of the landscape. There’s no fence or building, but rather a continuity of landscape and space. While the architecture and its visual presence might be recessive, the delight of swimming is amplified and celebrated. The park is an aberrant hybrid of artificial and natural habitats.
The main body of the park is like a rectangular transect through a native landscape terrain that is at one end a flat plane, but at the other, rolling dunes. This reinstated landscape is designed to exhibit the variety of native species that would have predominated pre-settlement with dunal characteristics of Eastern Surburb’s Banksia Shrub to the east transitioning to an integrated green roof wetland system to the west. The landscape is both resilient and functional with the wetlands filtering rejected water from the aquatic centre for greywater usages.
The sports facilities float within this fluid native landscape in contrast with the formal edges to the park. These are supported with activity spaces, barbecue areas and a playground to provide for leisure pursuits within a naturalistic setting. It’s not just a sports precinct, but an ecology of landscapes enriched by the seasons as change ebbs through the park. A defined depression of synthetic turf cuts a crisp spectator edge against this landscape while a skateboard park is interwoven within the undulations of the dunes to the east.
The lowering of the aquatic centre within the park avoids complicating the appreciation of the landscape. There’s no fence or building, but rather a continuity of landscape and space. While the architecture and its visual presence might be recessive, the delight of swimming is amplified and celebrated. The park is an aberrant hybrid of artificial and natural habitats.