Landscape Typologies

Landscape Typologies

Outdoor Rooms Interior Landscapes Education Landscapes Heritage Landscapes Residential Landscapes Urban Landscapes Green Roof & Public Places Parks & Play Building as Landscape

Landscape with Architecture It is impossible to separate landscape from architecture. Landscape is more than just a setting; it is a way of connecting people and place. Our approach draws on our cultural and climatic traditions to blur the boundaries between architecture and nature.

Beth Wilson (1934 - 2019), established and led the Landscape Architecture discipline of Wilson Architects for over 45 years. Beth pioneered the introduction of landscape as a part of interior architecture in Australia. In 2015, Beth became the first landscape architect to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA).

The legacy of her approach has become part of the Practice’s DNA in all aspects of our design strategies. This is no more evident than the critical inclusion in some our projects of interior planting to create healthy buildings and appealing environments.

Lakeside Walk

University of Queensland 2007

WHY IS OUR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE DIFFERENT?

HIGHLY INTEGRATED PRACTICE

Every landscape project we design looks at the outcome uniquely from two points of view. We examine how the landscape might inform the architecture and the architecture inform the landscape.This results in a unique and seamless project

HIGHLY INTEGRATED PRACTICE

SITE SPECIFIC DESIGN

ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE DESIGN

DESIGNING FOR THE HUMAN CONDITION

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Every landscape project we design looks at the outcome uniquely from two points of view.

We examine how the landscape might inform the architecture and the architecture inform the landscape. This results in a unique and seamless project.

Each project relies on a detailed understanding of the site, its history and its physical attributes.

Detailed research and understanding of site is central to our design process to produce unique site specific outcomes.

Designing with intention to provide positive environmental outcomes is critical to our approach.

At the core of our work is an approach that centres around the human condition. Landscape can possess a transformative energy that can inspire and regenerate spirit. Our aim is to design places with inherent beauty that contributes to positive health and well-being outcomes.

The contribution that plantings make to the success of the overall project is fundamental. Designing these landscapes requires a deep understanding of botany, ecology, soil science and landscape management to ensure success. We have collectively over 40 years of horticultural knowledge and experience to inform our design.

Appropriate landscape design, plant selection strategies, water sensitive urban design strategies, retention of existing vegetation and appropriate reuse of materials are integral to our design approach.

Landscape Typology #1

OUTDOOR ROOMS Covered outdoor spaces in our relatively benign climate can create functional outdoor space that augment the primary briefed program for relatively lower cost and maximum effect. Conceived as an outdoor “room”, they create memorable places that define the user experience.

Wilson Architects has particular expertise in the integrated architectural and landscape design of these unique spaces

Translational Research Institute

Princess Alexandra Hospital Campus, 2013 Wilson Architects + Donovan Hill, Architects in Association

The great northern window to the outdoor room gives the building its memorable identity. The room is used for multiple events, meetings and gatherings and provides the workplace of over 800 researchers a garden outlook that brings the community together.

Translational Research Institute

Translational Research Institute

For the Translational Research Institute, the outdoor room brings the landscape deep into the building, allowing a porosity to the hospital campus and organises multiple entries to a diverse range of facilities. In particular, the Research Forum facilitates researchers sharing and discussing scientific speculation to a broader audience. Prominent at street level, the Forums glazed side walls reveal the activity of the Institution to both Diamantina Road and the outdoor room. Framed within its great window, the outdoor room provides a civic place at the scale of a city and delivers respite from the intensity of research. This memorable landscaped room contributes to the identity and workplace environment while adding significant space to the network of communal places.

It was intended that the plant material selected for this primary research facility be of special scientific interest. Plants such as gymnosperms abundant in past ages but now represented by conifers and cycads have been included, as has been a thicket of pines and a Magnolia grove to represent the most primitive of the dicofy ledons.

Timeline Complete 2013 Size 36,487sqm Project Value Landscape budget; $2,000,000 Collaborators Wilson Architects + Donovan Hill Architects in Association Awards 2013 Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Public Service Delivery – TRI & BPA awarded Highly Commended for Growing and developing Queensland’s future 2013 AIA National Architecture Award Public Architecture Shortlist for 2013 World Architecture Festival, Higher Education category 2013 IDEA (Interior Design Excellence Awards), Highly Commended Public Space 2013 Horbury Hunt Think Brick Award for Urban Design & Landscape 2013 Australian Timber Design Awards, Best Northern Region (Qld & NT) 2013 AIQS Infinite Value Awards Architectural Excellence Award 2013 IES Qld Lighting Society Award for Excellence

Caboolture Superclinic

QUEENSLAND INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH (QIMR) The new research facility accommodates close to 1,200 people dedicated to scientific and medical research across a broad range of research programs.

The importance of connection to “outside” for the well being of its occupants is considered paramount. The provision of a green courtyard space is viewed from within the building and provides visual relief and a place of respite. The deeply recessed space echoes the forrest floor of cool dark green. Plant selection is crutial to the success of this space.

Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR)

COVERED LANDSCAPE COURTYARD AT CABOOLTURE SUPERCLINIC Drawing upon Wilson Architects’ evidence based research into Salutogenic approaches to healthcare, the design of the Caboolture GP Super Clinic focuses on the experience of the occupants and visitors. An integrated landscaped design has been considered with a strong emphasis between inside and outside spaces in mind. It brings a sensory focus on nature, health and vitality, rather than an emphasis on illness all too common in hospitals and clinical spaces. The landscape design has been concentrated at the entry thresholds from the street and the car park. The landscaped courtyard provides relief, shade, protection, a welcoming garden space and an extended waiting area for patients and visitors to the Superclinic.

Landscape Typology #2

INTERIOR LANDSCAPES Perhaps the most technical of all of the landscape design typologies, the Interior Landscape. It is the most challenging and yet for the building occupants, the most rewarding. It is now a much researched and known science, the ability of plant leaves and foliage to absorb toxic compounds from the environment. This has proven beneficial effects on performance, perception and general health and well-being within internal spaces and workplace.

Wilson Architects have successfully completed significant interior landscape spaces and have particular expertise in the specification of appropriate soil types and interior plan selections suitable in low light environments.

The Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct

Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus, 2019

The Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct

THE QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY PETER COALDRAKE EDUCATION PRECINCT The building is a model for educational precincts internationally setting a new benchmark for contemporary and sustainable design. The six level Faculty of Education building at QUT’s Kelvin Grove Campus in Brisbane also houses QUT’s centre for activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education studies and research, the Oodgeroo Unit. The new landscaped atrium also connects into the existing QUT Library to combine the two buildings. The Education Precinct Building achieved QUT’s objectives for a memorable, state of the art, sustainable and connected facility that offered new teaching and learning opportunities in a stimulating environment.

Incorporating the very best in visualisation technology, a spectacular five metre diameter LED Sphere is suspended over two floors in the atrium and visualisation walls stream content that is accessible to students using their own devices. The landscape responds to the variety of different conditions around the building. The atrium unifies the spaces into a cohesive whole with the use of natural green landscaped garden as a focal place within the heart of the building.

Bathed in natural light and incorporating lush sub-tropical planting, the atrium forms a central focal space which can be used as an informal community student space, an amphitheatre, event venue, a garden sanctuary or learning commons.

The Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct

Project Team

The design of staff workspaces and the Oodgeroo Unit on the third level has achieved an integrated mix of distinctive and inspiring activitybased work environments in office ‘neighbourhoods’.

These ‘neighbourhoods’ balance contemporary academia’s aspiration to be interdisciplinary, collaborative, accessible and transparent with the need for quiet reflection, security and personal space.

Planters incorporated into the furniture system, the use of natural timbers and good access to natural daylight are an important component of making an office environment that supports staff well-being.

Client Queensland University of Technology Partners Wilson Architects + Henning Larsen Architects in Association Timeline Completed January 2019 Project Value $94,000,000

Project Director Project Architect Architect Architect Architect Architect Architect Architect Architectural Student Landscape Architect Landscape Architect

John Thong Michael Herse Hamilton Wilson Annie Yen Daniel Tsang Georgina Russell Jenny Yang Luke Gavioli Charlotte Bryant John Harrison Ilka Salisbury

THE ECOSCIENCES PRECINCT, BOGGO ROAD

Wilson Architects was commissioned to undertake the landscape development associated with the building to house Queensland scientific agencies. Landscape spaces were provided within the building to foster the opportunity for collaboration and socialisation.

The landscape design incorporates a mixture of local Australian native ground plants, trees and shrubs, as it moves through internal and external spaces. It has created a sustainable, ecological order, with visually interesting leaf patters, and an attractive healthy work place environment

The Ecosciences Precinct, Boggo Road

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND IPSWICH RESOURCE CENTRE

The Resource Centre Building at the University of Queensland’s former Ipswich Campus was designed to function as a united shop front, a place for interaction between students and the Ipswich community.

The internal planted landscaped garden is air-conditioned and features a meandering stream with fish. The plantings, trees and ground covers were selected for their sustainability in artificial conditions.

This lively dynamic of lush, natural, sub-tropical garden adjacent quiet, reflective library spaces formed an unique and unexpected hub for the University campus.

Ipswich Resource Centre, former University of Queensland Ipswich campus

Landscape Typology #3

EDUCATION LANDSCAPES When designing education landscapes, Wilson Architects conceives of these spaces as an extension of student learning practice.

Whether they are used as part of the curriculum or as social learning, we recognise that almost every square metre of land can and should be considered for productive learning outcomes. These outdoor landscaped spaces enhance the learning experience for every student and staff.

All Hallows’ School Landscapes

Catherine Court, Mary Place, Kiriani, The Terraces

All Hallows’ School Landscapes

Wilson Architects’ landscape architectural team has designed several ‘places in the landscape’ for one of Brisbane’s most historic sites – All Hallows’ School. The all-girls school was established in 1861 and is home to some of Queensland’s oldest buildings.

language of the firm’s recent works at the school.

The spaces between buildings in the past were not well considered and had been degraded with ad-hoc interventions over time which had a detrimental effect on break-out, social learning and interaction opportunities.

Extensive client liaison and student input with the design team has led to four celebrated landscaped spaces and covered walkways within the school, including Catherine Court, Mary Place, Kirinari and The Terraces.

The projects were master planned and staged over time.

There was also very little undercover space across campus which left the external spaces unusable in inclement weather and in the heat of summer, as well as being a site that had very little disability access. These issues were addressed in the detailed design planning.

Views across to the River from the Convent and city were carefully managed so that the design didn’t alter or jeopardise the site’s historic setting. Significant historical timber garden pergolas were also retained.

The design brief was to first and foremost maintain the pastoral quality of the school and preserve the views to the Brisbane River.

Wilson Architects’ design amplifies the site’s prime inner-city position, while continuing the architectural

Mary Place Courtyard - All Hallows’ School

‘The vision, and the practical realisation of the vision in a collaborative and creative process, has been amazing to be part of. The School has been the major beneficiary and the projects have enhanced the rich fabric of the site and the legacy of some great buildings across the School’s history.’

— Lee-Anne Perry Principal, All Hallows’ School Timeline Complete Jan 2017 Project Budget $2,100,000 Project Team Project Director Architect Architect Landscape Architect Landscape Architect

Beth Wilson Hamilton Wilson Phillip Lukin John Harrison Ilka Salisbury

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award (AILA): All Hallows’ School, Places in the Landscape: Second tier Landscape Architecture Award for Cultural Heritage

The Terraces - All Hallows’ School

Brisbane Boys’ College, Middle School Precinct

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRECINCT

THE BRISBANE GRAMMAR SCHOOL THE LILLEY CENTRE

Following the completion of the College Masterplan for Brisbane Boys’ College, Wilson Architects was commissioned to design the Middle School Precinct.

The Brisbane Grammar School’s integrated learning facility, The Lilley Centre, represents a significant transformative shift from the school’s 19th century roots.

The planning of the new building provides for extending the learning environment to spaces outside of the classrooms, creating social opportunities as much as student led learning opportunities. This transition between classroom. informal social spaces and external landscape spaces allows for greater transparency and engagement between students and teachers within their school environment.

Physically, the building moves away from the traditional introverted characteristic of learning into a new open, transparent inter-relationship with both school and city.

BRISBANE BOYS’ COLLEGE,

The Brisbane Grammar School, The Lilley Centre

The building opens to the north while providing an enclosure to the southern edge of the Great Lawn. The culturally significant ailing 19th century fig trees have been reinvigorated and are central to the design. Terraces cascade down the slope providing visual access to the city beyond.

Landscape Typology #4

HERITAGE LANDSCAPES

Wilson Architects has a special interest in the history of landscape architecture and the development of the natural and cultural landscape and have had the opportunity for practical expressions of this interest in a number of completed projects.

The practice has researched and produced cultural heritage studies, reports and recommendations for landscape management, conservation and adaptive reuse projects.

Old Government House

Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane

Old Government House, Brisbane

Glengallan Homestead and Heritage Centre, Warwick

OLD GOVERNMENT HOUSE The heritage based project was designed and implemented to preserve and conserve a landscape associated with a culturally important building whilst maintaining its facility for use within the QUT Gardens Point Campus.

The building now known as Old Government House, designed by the colonial architect Charles Tiffin, was constructed for the first Governor of Queensland on a ridge overlooking the town reach of the Brisbane River.

Booval House, Ipswich

LANDSCAPE REPORTS AND STUDIES The primary contribution by Wilson Architects in the Restoration and Adaptation project, was to remove the accumulated clutter and restore the building’s presence in the landscape.

Principal consultants, Conrad Gargett Architects, (Wilson Architects - secondary consultant), was awarded: • AIA 2010 John Dalton Award for Building of the Year • AIA 2010 Brisbane Regional Commendation for Heritage Architecture

Studies and landscape reports have been prepared for many culturally important places in Brisbane and elsewhere, including: Mowbray Park Toowong Cemetery Newstead Park and Masterplan Shafston House Old Government House Boggo Road ex Women’s Prison Archer Park Railway Station, Rockhampton Clifford House, Toowoomba Glengallan Homestead and Heritage Centre, Warwick Booval House, Ipswich Queens Wharf Road and William St Precinct, Brisbane.

Landscape Typology #5

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPES Landscape Architectural services have been provided for residential projects including, multi-level apartment buildings, residential estates, private homes, aged care and residential college facilities.

With landscape design for private houses, the house, site, client needs and ideas are considered to be inextricably related, ensuring that the design for each project is personalised.

Sunrise Beach House Sunrise Beach, Queensland

SUNRISE BEACH HOUSE A number of themes were explored with this beach-side project.

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The development of the interior plan as an extension of the broader / borrowed landscape.

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To positively engage with the ground plane rather than a disconnected elevated living experience.

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To modulate light and views to create constantly shifting visual experiences.

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To create variable strategies for living inside and out under variable exposed conditions.

This beach house avoids the preoccupation to hug the boundary to maximise sea views, instead a sequence of ocean vignettes are playfully screened and framed against the house and landscape.

The challenge for this site was that the property was newly subdivided and this house was one of the first to be constructed. In order to optimise privacy, and at the same time open up views, adjoining properties were modelled to second guess possible future sight lines. The brief required internal and external spaces to be able to cope with the prevailing breezes under a variety of conditions. Subsequently, the envelope becomes almost infinitely switchable to enable alternate occupation of the inside and outside areas.

Landscape Typology #6

URBAN LANDSCAPES

The design of places for the movement of people within the landscape relies on a sensitive approach and balance between infrastructure and nature.

Ultimately we would imagine that our interventions into these places enhance the experience of being outdoors.

James Cook University, Verandah Walk Townsville, Queensland

JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY (JCU) VERANDAH WALK, TOWNSVILLE Wilson Architects has completed stage one of the project, the Verandah Walk South Node, which connects JCU Education Central and the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library across Waada Mooli Creek. The challenge was to design a 420m long covered walkway that integrates well on its site, without overwhelming visitors with its scale and length.

The design approach was to acknowledge the different landscape contexts in a site-specific response, including the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library, a heroically scaled building facing a generous open eucalyptus forest with dense landscape at the sides.

In response to the site, the walkway is designed to be two distinct parts with differing characteristics. At either side of the Library are sinuous curving paths with reflective soffit weaving through the more dense tropical landscape setting. Linking these are straight sections of walkway with a bright green colour that formed the first part of the typical Verandah Walk.

The deliberately curved walkway with its cantilevered roof directs attention outwards to the landscape and the Library building, rather than focusing the user’s view ‘down the barrel’ of a long straight path. The curved path provides the required wayfinding cues while creating an experience of ‘journey’, instead of ‘destination’.

“Wilson Architects design of the Verandah Walk has embraced the landscape and redefined the campus experience. Distinctly lively and tropical through the day, it emerges as a vividly colourful yet tranquil setting by night – and of course there is a myriad of practical issues it has resolved.”

— Matthew Joyce Deputy Director, James Cook University Planning & Development

JCU Verandah Walk pavillion

Polished aluminium soffits reflect the ground plane landscape, the spatial ambiguity heightening the sensory experience. Four pavilions extend out from the path and operate as connected outdoor learning spaces, with power and Wi-Fi throughout. Nearby fountains provide further respite from the hot climate, by creating a cooling effect and atmospheric background noise.

Project Team Project Director Project Architect Architect Architect Architect Landscape Architect Landscape Architect

Hamilton Wilson Phillip Lukin Tomo Takada Michelle Duval Luis Sidonio Ilka Salisbury John Harrison

JCU Verandah Walk pavillion

The connecting paths with their bright green soffit are also designed to direct attention to the landscape. The bridge over Waada Mooli Creek is positioned at a point where the creek bed opens out. The view downstream is framed and the balustrade dropped to encourage the visual connection.

Timeline 2014 - 2018 Project Budget $2,650,000 Awards 2019 QLD Architecture Awards - North Queensland Regional Commendation (Urban Design)⁣⁣ Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) - Top Tier Award for Excellence for Urban Design Project Team

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, ELEANOR SCHONELL BRIDGE LINK, ST LUCIA Wilson Architects provided the landscape architectural services to develop the journey from Annerley Road through Dutton Park, into the St Lucia Campus at the University of Queensland.

The challenge of the proposed new routes through Dutton Park and the St Lucia campus was to retain the intrinsic cultural qualities of the areas whilst providing pathways suitable for pedestrians, bicyclists and bus linkages.

Environmentally sustainable initiatives of the Eleanor Schonell Bridge Link project included rock lined swales for stormwater overland flows and plantings of macrophytes to establish bio retention basins.

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, LAKESIDE WALK, ST LUCIA An environmentally sensitive project to construct a boardwalk around the Lakes at the St Lucia campus.

The fauna habitats are preserved on the west side of the lake whilst providing equal people access and recreation. The Lakeside Walk includes an elevated

Awards 2007 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA): Commendation

timber boardwalk weaving through a bird breeding area, shelters, seating, drinking, lighting and security facilities.

The project took special care to design the facility to standards for access by people with disabilities.

A second phase to this Project introduced an elevated boardwalk that sensitively traverses over the lake. The sweeping curved form provides an intimate connection to the lake’s ecology and includes a series of sandstone seating walls to the perimeter of the lake.

Landscape Typology #7 Awards 1988 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA): Merit Award for Local Government - Townscape

GREEN ROOF AND PUBLIC PLACES Density in the city and the need for green landscape spaces built over carparks and offices is becoming increasingly desirable. However, this objective also has challenges in technical delivery to ensure the plant material thrives and does not cause issues with waterproofing and the structure.

Wilson Architects have worked on some of the most significant and challenging green roof spaces in Brisbane, including Mincom Offices, Suncorp Stadium and Cathedral Square.

CATHEDRAL SQUARE Cathedral Square was developed as a major public park in 1988. It is essentially a green roof podium landscape constructed over two floors of basement car parks below.

The park sprawls over one hectare providing a foil to St John’s Cathedral on Ann Street.

Cathedral Square

Brisbane, Queensland

The design extensively references Brisbane’s garden heritage with a palate of subtropical foliage, flowering trees and bedding out gardens.

Suncorp Stadium Plaza & Landscape

Suncorp Stadium Plaza & Landscape

Mincom Office Landscaping

SUNCORP STADIUM PLAZA & LANDSCAPE

MINCOM OFFICE LANDSCAPING

The stadium redevelopment included a $1.5million dollar landscape budget for hard and soft landscape. The works involved liaison with HOK Architects and the Joint Venture Project Management team.

The construction of Mincom’s head offices in Brisbane has provided a substantial urban open space development within Brisbane’s busy CBD. The site encompasses the heavily used Ann Street forecourt and streetscape which links over three stories to Turbot Street providing easy and equitable access through this part of the city. A public outdoor green roof plaza was developed at Turbot Street featuring fountains and amphitheatre and open areas allowing for pedestrian access and recreation.

The plaza references the open space to the west of Turbot Street extending the green landscape fabric into the city.

Wilson Architects was involved in the landscape design and documentation for the North and South Plaza, the surrounding Streetscape with the incorporation of art work, furniture, lighting, irrigation, drainage, retaining and all hard elements.

Mincom Office Landscaping

Landscape Typology #8

PARKS & PLAY A number of landmark projects in Brisbane feature landscape design and delivery by Wilson Architects.

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Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

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Cathedral Square, Brisbane

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Caboolture Town Square

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Michael Birt Gardens, University of New South Wales

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Brisbane Grammar School Ovals, Northgate

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University of Queensland Sports field, St Lucia

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Suncorp Stadium Plaza & Landscape, Brisbane

Brisbane City Botanic Gardens Brisbane, Queensland

THE REDEVELOPMENT OF THE BRISBANE CITY BOTANIC GARDENS, BRISBANE An initiative of the Brisbane City Council, Wilson Architects was commissioned to undertake this $4,000,000 staged project to design a new garden pavilion for the original City Botanic Gardens.

This redevelopment project included the reformation of part of the domain to create a seating terrace and River Stage. The Brisbane City Botanic Gardens are one of the most environmentally and historically important places, being the location of the former Government Garden worked on by convicts during the first years of settlement in Brisbane.

Established in 1855, the City Botanic Gardens gardens contain many advanced tree specimens dating back to the 19th Century.

Michael Brit Gardens

UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, MICHAEL BIRT GARDENS Michael Birt Gardens at the University of New South Wales’ Kensington Campus were redeveloped in association with the construction of the Lowy Cancer Research Precinct. They provide the green space on the campus and are utilised for casual relaxation, community functions and socialisation.

Beenleigh Square

BEENLEIGH SQUARE

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, LAKESIDE WALK

Wilson Architects was successful in a compettion to redesign the interface between the Beenleigh Courthouse and a new City Square. The commission included the design of a new bandstand and the ability to cater for weekend markets.

An alternative access from the Brisbane River precinct to the main acadamic core of the University campus was achieved with the construction of a bridge across the lake. The bridge floats above the environmentally sensitive spring fed lake at St Lucia Campus, providing an appealing gesture to the picturesque sentiment of a pastoral English landscape. The borrowed oriental aesthetic reveals the sense of humankind in harmony with nature. The Lakeside Walk includes an elevated timber boardwalk structure, traversing a bird breeding habitat providing shelters and pedestrian facilities along its route.

University of Queensland, Lakeside Walk

Landscape Typology #9

BUILDING AS LANDSCAPE KOOROOMBA CHAPEL As part of our continuing exploration of the relationship between landscape and architecture, a commission to design a chapel at Kooroomba Winery allowed us to indulge in a unique landscape typology. Buildings in landscape that form the dominant setting are rare commissions. The strategy for the chapel at Kooroomba was to engender an emotive response to place for the special event of a wedding or the inquisitive exploration of the site’s landscape setting. Three aesthetic concepts established the arrangement of the experience: the Pastoral, the Picturesque, and the Sublime.

Whereas the Pastoral and Picturesque reference humankind’s ability to control the natural world, the Sublime is a humbling reminder that nature ultimately dominates. Here at Kooroomba we have all three laid out in its dramatic setting. Lavender fields and wine grape trellises create ordered pastoral patterns in the landscape. The buildings are then edited into this cultivated field where the Chapel becomes calibrated in its placement to picturesquely reveal two facades in a classically aligned repose (think Parthenon) as well as romantically draw the visitor toward the object as a ‘ruin’ in the landscape. The ruin being quintessentially picturesque which was, in the late 18th century, often constructed as a folly.

In the eighteenth century, ruins all over the world were being rediscovered and reinterpreted aesthetically as their popularity and their importance as artistic subjects increased. An increase in travel and travel literature exposed British society to ruins both local and foreign, spurring interest in capturing their picturesque nature. At the same time, a growing awareness of historical documentation and scientific excavations of sites like Pompeii also affected the prevalence of ruins and commanded the attention of the Romantic audience. Frequently “created” as well as found, Romantic ruins invited spectators’ reflections on transience, death and decay. As such, ruins were a staple in Romantic landscape art and garden design.

This curated setting at Kooroomba is placed within the context of the mountainous Scenic Rim and evocatively reminds the visitor of their diminutive place in nature’s higher order.

The ‘chapel’ at Kooroomba is non-denominational. References to religious architecture abound particularly citing the charming small timber chapels of Queensland townships. The bell tower, the nave, the alter, the leaded window. It then is de-constructed as a ‘ruin’ romantically placed in the landscape. Vines are encouraged to overtake the structure. The building is left with walls described rather than made and as well as where a frameless glass door can only but symbolically denote the threshold. The chapel nave aligns with one of the major Scenic Rim mountain peaks. An open ‘window’ frames the view and, all who are intended, make their vows on the raised timber platform.

The building is also used as a meeting place, a making place for artists, connected to the landscape through the timber studded wall veil.

Kooroomba Chapel

Kooroomba Chapel

‘This is a building that is hard to define but to witness the building is to know that it is very successful.

The building appears simple: an exposed timber frame with humble gabled roof. Its simplicity allows the building to poetically sit within the setting, gesturing romantic notions of ruins and follies within the landscape.’

— Jury Citation for the Hayes & Scott Award

Timeline Complete 2018 Project Budget $300,000 Awards 2019 QLD Architecture Awards - Darling Downs Regional Commendation (Small Project Architecture) 2019 AIA Qld State Architecture Hayes & Scott Award, Named Award for Small Projects for Small Projects.

Kooroomba Chapel

THE ACTIVITY CENTRE, IPSWICH (FORMERLY UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND) The project site sits at the Campus edge at a point where the ridge begins to slope gently away to the Golf Course and Cemetery beyond. Mature fig trees create a threshold experience and frame views to the southeast.

The canopy shelters the site, shading the afternoon sun and defining a space for larger gatherings.

The building is an object in its landscape context and is of a scale complementary to its surroundings. Large doors open up to the Fig trees and invert the space, turning it into a stage for gatherings, weddings and plays. Random batten screening sets up a patternless texture to the exterior, punctuated by glazed openings in a glossy counterpoint.

The timber warms and humanises the space, inviting touch.

The interior is private and contemplative, carefully detailed to screen and frame the landscape views. However, the need for privacy is balanced against retaining a sense of connection with the landscape, mediated by the walls. With no eaves for protection, rain and sunlight fall hard against the building. The walls filter light and frame views with deliberate care.

Louvres admit breeze while retaining privacy of the users. The pavilion can be introverted and serene or open and welcoming, secular or sacred, and is equally appropriate for meditative, educative or celebratory functions

The Activity Centre, Ipswich

Catherine Court - All Hallows’ School

Wilson Architects has integrated Landscape and Architecture services for the past 50 years. The importance of this collaboration results in projects that have a sense of place within their context and humanise our built environment.

564 Boundary Street Spring Hill Qld 4000 Telephone +61 7 3831 2755 wa@wilsonarchitects.com.au wilsonarchitects.com.au

Wilson Architects acknowledge the images from the following photographers: Alex Chomicz, Andrew Rankin, Brent Hardcastle, Brett Boardman, Christopher Frederick Jones, Peter Hyatt, Phillip Lukin