Wotten Road Reserve

GLAS Landscape Architects was engaged to provide landscape design expertise for the Warrnambool Learning and Library Centre in 2019, working as a sub-consultant to Kosloff Architecture. The scope of the project focuses on the external spaces surrounding the hub, with a design aimed at integrating the new facilities into the existing TAFE campus and connecting them to the surrounding town, all while reflecting the local coastal environment and historical conAt the heart of the landscape concept is a desire to create spaces that not only function well but also connect people to nature and each other. The design takes cues from the coastal landscape, with its sand dunes, rock outcrops, and indigenous plant life, to inform everything from the material choices to the arrangement of planting and seating. The iconic Norfolk Island Pines that frame the entrance stand as sentinels, welcoming visitors into a civic plaza where the boundary between hard surfaces and soft greenery is intentionally blurred, encouraging exploration and casual interaction.

The Wootten road reserve play and interpretation space is designed to provide an immersive, engaging place that reveals the history and ecology of the site.

Inspired by the memory of the lost homestead and grassland, the design seeks to rebuild these landscapes as an experience which integrates ecology and play. It seeks to increase understanding of the native grassland and also of the homestead garden to provide a window into the beauty of the natural landscape and also a sense of the pioneers living on the edge of the grassland. Undulating pathways weave through the site providing a variety of viewpoints in, on and above the grasses.

By being up close to the grassland, the diversity and richness can be better understood. Within the homestead garden, the new exotic planting complements the existing exotic trees, using species common in the Victorian era (but only sterile varieties) to create a pioneer garden that recreates the settlers need for an alien but familiar landscape. The contrast between the exotic, shady, enclosed landscape and the open, expansive, native grassland re-enforces the life of the pioneer on the ‘edge’ of two worlds, between the familiarity of the home and the adventure of the new surroundings.

Traditional Custodians

Bunurong/ Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung

Location

Werribee, VIC

Scale

8,600 sqm

Year

2016

Client

Wyndham City Council

Team

Practical Ecology
Arup
Before Compliance
Annette Warner
Flora Victoria

Awards

2020 AILA Victoria Landscape Architecture Award for Parks and Open Space

The contrast between the grassland and homestead gardens encourages the visitor to experience and appreciate the native vegetation but also the life of the pioneer on the edge of the grassland, yearning for shade and the familiar. It is hoped that visitors will be challenged to re-evaluate their own perspectives on the natural landscape.