Non-spaceSpace

BACKGROUND: There is a current landscape architectural concern with the broad question of the role of the park in Melbourne by 2050. This question was the driver for The Future Park Forum, presented by the University of Melbourne in partnership with the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture. It challenged professionals across the built environment disciplines to engage with research questions in the context of the scale and speed of Melbourne’s millennial growth: How may parks shape Melbourne’s urban form? Where should new open space be located, how should it be configured and what is its purpose? These questions provided the context for the project ‘Non-space>Space.’ CONTRIBUTION: ‘Non-space>Space’ is a collaboration between Ata Tara and Duncan Gibbs. Ata engaged in the conceptual development and production of the two display items comprising the work. The work addressed the knowledge gap and tested the hypothesis that transport infrastructure occupies the juxtaposed ontology of being both connective and obstructive. Researching potential for parks above freeways, they demonstrated a re-establishment of relationships between divided landscapes, and the potential for innovative new parks. The work proposes a 10-point manifesto of major political, environmental, socio-economic to inform park site selection and design and sets the measure by which such a park typology can be integrated into its setting. This offers new approaches in reclaiming future parks from highways. SIGNIFICANCE: The work was shortlisted for the ‘Future Park Design Ideas Competition.’ Jurors included leading international scholars, practitioners and the Victoria Government Architect. The list of entries was published in the AILA Magazine, issue 165, February 2020. The work was exhibited at Dulux Gallery, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne for one week in Oct 2019.