717 Bourke Street: The design of this corporate plaza precinct in Melbourne’s Docklands involved the integration of the streetscape, a new pocket park, a podium forecourt and courtyards. The new public space addresses the ambiguity of the corporate plaza, injecting warmth and interest through its strong landscape forms. The design sits within our practice’s recent explorations into the inner city of Melbourne. It seeks to create a dialogue with the building, while not losing touch with the need to reveal niches and unpredictable spaces.

Corporate plaza design has a long tradition in Melbourne and this project, like many others seeks to have a real ‘relationship’ between the façade and the horizontal flows of this space. The external podium landscapes at 717 Bourke Street were conceived around facilitating increased pedestrian permeability and activation between Melbourne’s CBD and the predominantly isolated Docklands precinct. ASPECT Studios removed the typical 90 degree relationship between landscape and building and drove the design towards a highly architectural outcome, creating a striking language of tectonic, multi purpose landscape forms, made of ramps, seats, planters and decks.

Project Title: 717 Bourke Street
Location: 717 Bourke Street, Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
Client: ProBuild & PDS Group
Photographer: Andrew Lloyd
Budget: AUS $2 million
Consultants/Team: ASPECT Studios – Landscape Architecture,
Metier 3 – Architecture
Scope: Landscape Concept, Town Planning & Construction
Area: 2185 square metres
Completion date: 2010
Awards: 2011 AILA Victoria Award for Design in Landscape Architecture