PASSAGE THROUGH COUNTRY Repairing fragments and healing seams to restore cultural, spiritual, and physical flows.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
We have not always treated the Birrarung as it deserves to be treated. Clearing, polluting, paving and piping – years of mistreatment and neglect have left a river in distress. It is long overdue that we give the river the respect it deserves. Our governments must start backing green with the same fortitude with which they back grey. In order to heal Country and ourselves, we must heal the Birrarung – a single, living, connected entity. The lands of the Birrarung have been fragmented and scarred. Nowhere is this more obvious than in its urban reach. Where once the river had room to breathe, flood and move it has become hemmed in by industry, development, and hard edges. This is a stretch of the river where healing is needed. Through reclaiming and caring for patches this proposal strives to mend missing links in the Birrarung Council’s aspirations for a ‘giant connected parkland’. The Great Birrarung Parklands. And create connections for all users, including animals, insects and plants. The transect at the centre of this project runs through Richmond and South Yarra – crossing the river on Church Street. A confluence of flows converge here – the river, traffic, cyclists and pedestrians. Residences, retail and industry all jostle for land, while islands of green space are boxed in and separated. The hard edge of CityLink on the Northern bank is a noisy and imposing barrier to connectivity, and it is here where the river needs the most help.
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CO-DESIGN AND DESIGN PHASING The strength and success of this project hinges on fostering an ongoing relationship with indigenous custodians. Engagement, consultation and co-design with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung must be fore fronted to ensure indigenous voices are heard and given a real stake in how the Birrarung’s lands are used and evolve.
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The long-term vision for this scheme is to begin with improving individual nodes and mending the connections between these spaces over time. Initial projects will work with the existing conditions, with more ambitious public acquisition and public-private partnerships to develop in the future. A crucial consideration in this phasing is the changing role of the freeway. With electric and automated vehicles, it is speculated that noise levels and demands on space may reduce in the future. Proposed projects piece together a gallery for Country that creates connections across the Birrarung. An indigenous lead art and seasonal planting trail in Richmond flows to a series of rain gardens from the southern bank. Symbolically and culturally daylighting the historic Hawkesburn Creek, these rain gardens offer educational opportunities to Melbourne High School and tie into the Chapel ReVision Strategies. Similar bio-retention gardens are built into the laneways North of the river. Collecting, and treating stormwater before it flows through pipes to join the Birrarung. Green streets and street greening strengthen connections for wildlife and climate resilience. Positioned as a pilot green neighbourhood, each action is designed as a catalyst for changing the urban fabric.
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LANDSCAPE MASTERPLAN
The initial masterplan focuses in on the most scarred segment of the river, the northern bank. The scheme is an assemblage of left-over spaces and incremental interventions that will make the greatest impact in the shortest time frame. Here we are looking at two parallel trails. The co-designed art-trail north of the freeway will improve connectivity and give indigenous custodians ownership over a space for forms of cultural expression. Successional planting, green roofs and reclaimed freeway land will strengthen the corridor for biodiversity over time. At the river’s edge the Main Yarra trail is separated to allow pedestrians and cyclists the much-needed room to breathe, a key goal in the Yarra Strategic Plan.
FLYOVER - CONNECTING WALKWAY
RESIDENTIAL
LAND RECLAIM
ART TRAIL CROSS SECTIONS
CITY LINK
RES
PUBLIC OPEN SPACE - RAIN GARDEN
LAND RECLAIM
CITY LINK
RES
PUBLIC OPEN SPACE
LAND REC.
CITY LINK
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ART TRAIL & PLANTING DESIGN
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BREE ELLETT | 1068537
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