Deer Park Station landscape architecture award in Melbourne

Deer Park Station landscape architecture award has gone to the Melbourne station, which topped the National Landscape Architecture Awards for its station precinct design, as reported by Rail Express. Opened in 2023 as part of the Mt Derrimut Road level crossing removal project run by Victoria’s Big Build, the site was singled out for native planting that reflects and celebrates the area’s cultural history.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Deer Park Station landscape architecture award and cultural design

The station forecourt sits alongside a protected ecological zone, where remnant grasslands are preserved and habitat is maintained for local fauna. According to the awards jury, the project protects the local landscape through close engagement with the community, while still meeting the everyday safety and movement needs of a busy Melbourne train station. The jury also noted that integrated cultural references woven through the design “bring an added dimension to the outcome, allowing stories of the place to be shared with commuters”.

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Native gardens, layers of Country and Indigenous stories

Landscape architects Hassell led the landscaping of Deer Park Station in collaboration with Elders Aunty Gail Smith and Aunty Julieanne Axford from the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. Their concept is built around the “layers of Country”, a series of stories told by Indigenous Elders that recognise Bunjil the Great Creator Spirit as the creator of all layers of Country. In practice, these native gardens and cultural cues turn everyday journeys through the station precinct into quiet reminders of deep local history and connection to place.

Rooftop garden and sustainable station precinct at Deer Park, Victoria

Deer Park Station has also been recognised as one of Australia’s most sustainable new station precincts, a point underlined in a recent update from the Level Crossing Removal Project. The development includes Victoria’s first rooftop garden on a station building, making the Deer Park Station rooftop garden in Melbourne a prominent example of green infrastructure. The rooftop features a mix of native plants and is designed to reduce the heat island effect of the station buildings, cut storm water runoff and improve water quality, reinforcing the site’s role as a sustainable station precinct at Deer Park, Victoria.

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