I was commissioned by Foreground to reflect on the planning and urban design responses to the 2011 floods which affected nearly 80 percent of the state of Queensland, claiming the lives of 33 people, and damaging or destroying 29,000 homes and businesses at a cost of more than $5 billion.

Read the article here.

Click the image or heading for more detail.

Small Creek Naturalisation Stages 1 and 2 last night received the Award of Excellence in the Land Management category, at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects 2020 National Awards. We couldn’t be prouder.

Read the jury citation here.

See all the winners here.

We were excited to see Small Creek included in a story about rewilding and naturalisation projects in Australia, published today in The Guardian.

The article quotes our client, Ben Walker, who during his tenure at Ipswich City Council was a true project partner with Landscapology and Bligh Tanner, and a staunch champion of the process and upfront community engagement.

It was an honour to be included alongside a bunch of such wonderful projects.

Recently Alan Hoban from Bligh Tanner, and Amalie, spent time chatting about Small Creek with editor and journalist Maitiú Ward, for an article for Foreground.

The completed story can be read here.

Towards the end of her two-year contract, Amalie was invited by Landscape Australia to share some personal reflections on the RISE project.

Read the article here.

Recently, Amalie joined an international team working on an action-research program at the intersections of health, environment, and water and sanitation.

Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environment (RISE) is trialling a new water sensitive approach to water and sanitation management in 24 informal settlements across Makassar, Indonesia and Suva, Fiji.

Click on the photo to read more.

It's always a pleasure to share our Small Creek journey.

Last week, Amalie delivered a keynote presentation at the Stormwater Queensland conference, and then spoke at the International Festival of Landscape Architecture in Sydney.

Thanks to AILA at SWQ for inviting me!

We are thrilled that Big Plans for Small received two awards last week.

On Wednesday night we received the Award for Excellence in Policy or Education at the Stormwater Queensland Awards. Thursday night it was the National Awards of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, where we received a National Landscape Architecture Award for Land Management.

It has been an incredible journey with our client, Ben Walker from Ipswich City Council, and our project partners Bligh Tanner.

We were thrilled and honoured to receive the Award of Excellence in Land Management at the recent Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Queensland Awards, for our project Big Plans for Small Creek.

Ipswich's Small Creek was once a meandering natural stream that flowed into Deebing Creek. Today, it’s a straight concrete channel that offers very little value to the community or environment.

That’s about to change: Small Creek will return to a natural waterway through a terrific Council project. As well as clean water and habitat for wildlife, the new Small Creek will allow for better path and bikeway connections and the opportunity to interact with nature in a parkland setting.

We're kicking off the project with Design Your Creek Week, working on site and learning from the local community. Click to read more and find out how you can be part of the fun.

I was recently in Townsville for Evoke, the regional architecture conference.

My duties - if you could call something so enjoyable a duty - included hosting a session featuring Australian artist Robyn Backen, and landscape architects Matthew Flynn and Ana Maria Pinto from Costa Rican practice, VIDA.

My grandparents used to live in Townsville so it was a place I visited often as a kid. It's been a long time since I've been back, though, so here are a few thoughts from a whirlwind trip.

Click to read more.

Later in the month hundreds of landscape architects will head to Canberra for this year's Festival of Landscape Architecture.

That seems like an excuse - not that any is needed - to revisit one of my favourite works of Australian landscape architecture: the Sculpture Gardens at the National Gallery of Australia.

Click here to read more.

This photo was taken at the recent meeting of the National Council (Board) of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects.

It has been my great pleasure and privilege to serve with this great group of people since our election last year. Sadly, this was our last face-to-face meeting. Our members have voted to endorse a new Constitution for AILA - this is a hugely important event for the organisation, and will usher in a new era of robust corporate governance. As a result, elections for new Directors have been triggered, and our new Board will be endorsed at the upcoming Festival of Landscape Architects in Canberra.

I'd like to thank all my fellow National Councillors - this has been an enriching and challenging opportunity to serve the profession I love so much.

" This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive.” 

Alice Waters

A few thoughts on the joy of inhabiting the public spaces of our cities.

In Norway, the national tourism and transport infrastructure work together to connect, respect and celebrate the jaw-dropping landscape.

Read more, and wish you were there, courtesy The Guardian.

Watch the timelapse video showing the largest project of its kind ever undertaking in the U.S., to dismantle a dam and restore a natural river system.

See the video and read the story on National Geographic here.

I am honoured to have been invited to host a session at the upcoming Regional Architecture Conference, Evoke.

If you're in Townsville in September it's definitely worth adding to your agenda. Check out the fabulous array of speakers on the website.

The local AILA membership is also coordinating a guided tour of award-winning Jezzine Barracks/Kissing Point on Sunday morning: more details will be available soon.

Conference website here.

Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, recently encouraged the Centennial Park Trustand the NSW Environment Minister to seek National Heritage listing for this significant and popular Sydney park.

Writing for his own website, Mr Turnbull said:

 “A great city needs great parks. Unless they are set aside in the city’s youth, they are hard to retrofit after development has taken over.

And once established they need to be jealously protected – as the city grows those green, open spaces are more precious than ever.”

I recently discussed the Prime Minister's comments with AILA President, Daniel Bennett, in an article published on Sourceable.

Click to read more.

In preparation for the upcoming Federal election, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects sought comment from the major political parties on questions of concern to the Institute and its members.

Here are their responses:

Labor

The Coalition

The Greens

Read more.

"Wow, I never realised landscape architecture was so cool!"

                                                                               "Oh FFS, sit down and let me bring you up to speed..."

Dr Chris Brown, yes, Mr Bondi Vet himself, recently had the pleasure of speaking at the same conference as Yours Truly.

Read more.

Recently we've been working on a concept for a new garden in Taringa.

Our lovely clients are building a new architect-designed home, and there is a fabulous fig tree at the front of the property.

As is often the case, the design brief developed as we progressed: some things they were very clear about, others things were definitely up for exploration.

This article shows how we take a client brief, develop an initial concept design, and then refine it in response to feedback.

We love the final concept, and think the design has gotten stronger with every iteration.

See what you think...

Thanks go to my old mate Rob for bringing this to my attention.

Throughout May, Londoners can participate in Cityread, a citywide celebration of literature.

Everyone is invited to read the same book and then join together at the many events hosted throughout the city.

I love the idea of everyone in a city reading a book based in their city all at once!

Check out the Cityread London website here.

Last week I travelled to Adelaide for the annual Architecture Conference.

Despite this being my first visit to the South Australian capital, I've spent many hours studying its famous town plan at uni, and even more time applying myself to its equally famous wine in my down time.

Of course visiting somewhere 'in real life' is always a different proposition, and initial impressions of a city can be both superficial and revealing: some things the locals take for granted leap out in contrast to the visitor's home, whereas other things that stand out to the holiday-maker may mask deeper realities.

So with that not-so-subtle disclaimer, here are 10 things that I noticed in my brief time in Adelaide...

We are delighted and honoured that Studio 217 is featured in the latest edition of Habitus.

Designed by Richard Buchanan and Amalie Wright the tiny space contains library, wine cellar (yay!), piano, guest accommodation, design studio and more, all in a space smaller than two car parks.