Bowen Place Crossing
2016 National Award of Excellence - Infrastructure
2016 ACT Award of Excellence - Infrastructure
Spackman Mossop Michaels
The exemplary design and delivery of Bowen Place Crossing demonstrates the benefits well designed, integrated and contextual infrastructure, designed from a landscape approach can provide cities. Located within the national capital, and within the Parliamentary Zone, the project not only improves access and connects people with Lake Burley Griffin, it also reinforces the civic nature of Canberra’s Burley Griffin Plan.
The sculptural qualities of the project reinforce the designers’ vision of building more than a physical link across Kings Avenue. The project responds to existing geometries and creates new views to the Carillion. The scale, fluidity, material selection and landscape of Bowen Place Crossing references land art movement as well as Canberra’s modernist landscape architecture and architecture, including the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Australia.
The simplicity of the design belies the complexity of successfully meeting the challenges of transforming the functional into the splendid, including the significant excavations required. Bowen Place Crossing sets an exemplary standard in the design of infrastructure in Australia.