Some of Queensland’s best landscapes won top honours at the 2024 Queensland State Awards announced last week by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA).

The jury honoured 24 winners from a total of 49 entries, with regional projects taking home half of the awards.

Among the winners were the Bradbury Park Playscape, Coorparoo Secondary College, and the urban garden project in Kangaroo Point, Riviere among others. Regional projects were also celebrated with winners including the Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Masterplan, the UniSC Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan, and the Cunnamulla Hot Springs and River Walk.

The Bradbury Park Playscape, by CUSP (QLD) Pty Ltd + AMAO + BCC won the Award of Excellence in the Play Spaces category. The playscape sets new benchmarks for innovative play provision, especially for the difficult 10-15-year age group.

The jury noted: “Bradbury Park articulates the best in terms of ambitious, bold and unique collaborative thinking. The mixed-disciplinary play space leads design by incorporating risks, challenges and fun for all ages. The clever integration of new and existing vegetation provides an overall experience to stimulate all senses. The imaginative and joyful aesthetics of the space make it hard to not want to enter and play. Bradbury Park enhances tradition and creates a destination play space for all to enjoy.”

Hassell’s Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Master Plan won an Award of Excellence in the Parks and Open Space category and a Landscape Architecture Award for Landscape Planning. Encompassing 65 hectares of farmland, the Master Plan establishes a framework for a new parkland that will deliver nature-based recreation, education and research while healing Country by restoring its environmental and cultural heritage values.

The jury said: “The Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Master Plan demonstrates a commitment to pioneering thought, seeking to transcend conventional norms in parkland design. Through an innovative lens, it places emphasis on the intersection of social benefit with ecological and cultural preservation, thus challenging entrenched paradigms in open space planning. As a design-centric initiative, it compels local governing bodies to broaden their perspective beyond traditional park typologies.”

RPS’s Riviere project, which delivered the landscaping and rooftop gardens for a Kangaroo Point apartment building, won an Award of Excellence in the Gardens category. The design highlights how greening rooftops can achieve a superior environmental outcome, whilst increasing liveability and social interactions.

The jury observed: “Riviere sets a benchmark for the contemporary urban garden. The project successfully translates the visual qualities, experiential values, and distinctive detailing, typical of a traditional family home, into the communal spaces of a contemporary high-density apartment setting. Riviere delivers a well-considered and carefully crafted landscape for its residents.”

Coorparoo Secondary College by FRED St Pty Ltd won the Award of Excellence in the Health and Education Landscapes category. This new outdoor learning area delivers social and curriculum-based outcomes for the school in a small space with the design celebrating the school’s culture, and supports students in their school-based learning and personal development.

The jury commented: “The Coorparoo Secondary College Outdoor Learning Area is an excellent example of how traditional wisdom and authentic cultural engagement can inform, and be relevant to the contemporary context and design. Despite the modest size and budget of this project, it stands out as testament to what is possible when process embraces authentic cultural protocol and community engagement.”

All winners at the State Awards level proceed to the National Landscape Architecture Awards to be held later this year.

2024 Queensland State Awards Winners

Project name | Winner | Award type

Category: Health and Education Landscape

Coorparoo Secondary College | FRED St Pty Ltd | Award of Excellence

Great Hall Enhancement Project | Guymer Bailey Landscape | Landscape Architecture Award

Rendu Towers | Urbis Ltd | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Civic Landscape

Mary’s Place | WILDStudio with Blight Rayner | Landscape Architecture Award

Centennial Place | Tract | Landscape Architecture Award

Victoria Park / Barrambin Park Shelters and Furniture Suite | Urbis Ltd | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Parks and Open Spaces

Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Master Plan | Hassell | Award of Excellence

Pebble Creek Parklands | SLR Consulting Australia Pty Ltd and Orchard (Pebble Creek) Developments Pty Ltd | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Play Spaces

Bradbury Park Playscape | CUSP (QLD) Pty Ltd + AMAO + BCC | Award of Excellence

Warru Warru Playground | Landplan Landscape Architecture | Landscape Architecture Award

Kool Beanz Academy | Urbis Ltd | Landscape Architecture Award

Colmslie Beach Reserve Upgrade | Brisbane City Council - City Projects Office | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Gardens

Riviere | RPS | Award of Excellence

Jubilee Place | WILDStudio with LatStudios | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Cultural Heritage

UniSC Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan | Aurecon + LatStudios with Blaklash | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Tourism

Cunnamulla Hot Springs and River Walk | RPS | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Landscape Planning

Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Master Plan | Hassell | Landscape Architecture Award

UniSC Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan | Aurecon + LatStudios with Blaklash | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Research, Policy and Communications

Brisbane Green Factor | Brisbane City Council – Design Brisbane, City Planning and Economic Development | Landscape Architecture Award

Category: Small Projects

FV Dianne Memorial | Rounsefell Design | Award of Excellence

Regional Achievement Award

*Projects also won additional Awards in categories above

Mary’s Place* | WILDStudio with Blight Rayner

Centennial Place* | Tract

ShadeSmart Award

*Projects also won additional Awards in categories above

Pebble Creek Parklands* | SLR Consulting Australia Pty Ltd and Orchard (Pebble Creek) Developments Pty Ltd

UniSC Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan* | Aurecon + LatStudios with Blaklash

President’s Award

'Inner Spark’ | Brisbane City Council Urban Renewal Team

Images: Supplied

Branko Miletic

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