GLAS was involved as part of a large design consortium led by LYONS Architects to design the new social and student services hub for the University’s Parkville campus, including 7 new buildings and 12,000 square meters of new landscape.
GLAS and ASPECT Landscape Architects collaborated on the concept design of the space, bringing our complementary voices and skills to ensure a strong landscape narrative. The student community were co-creators with over 20,000 students and staff actively contributing their views to the design.
Student feedback led toward a design focused on the student experience, creating a diverse social place with a strong emphasis on landscape environmental performance, biodiversity, and activation. The key design move was the rediscovery of the ground. Removing all the decked structures from before to allow the ground to be revealed. A new paving, ‘The Welcome Terrain’, was developed as the key connecting and wayfinding device of the precinct.
The design includes a new central amphitheatre, entry gateway, and lawn, the design for a new entry space to the Parkville campus from Grattan Street featuring a restored creek within a contemporary indigenous landscape, a new social courtyard and a series of laneways and balcony landscapes. Value for money was achieved through the complete transformation of the space into a world-class student-centric precinct that puts the University of Melbourne on the world map.
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