Franklin Square
2019 TAS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AWARD - CULTURAL HERITAGE
CITY OF HOBART
Located in the heart of historic Hobart, Franklin Square is lined with some of the city’s most important civic buildings, including the Town Hall, the GPO, Treasury and St David’s Cathedral. While the square was originally the focal point of Hobart’s colonial occupation, it was transformed into a public park in the mid-nineteenth century, and has remained at the heart of the city’s community life ever since.
Even still, over the decades, Franklin Square had been modified to simplify maintenance, losing some of its historic qualities in the process, and becoming known for attracting antisocial behaviour. The redevelopment of the park has sought to marry the contemporary requirements of a central civic space with a rich cultural history by carefully preserving heritage elements and removing more recent unsympathetic additions. Planting has been reinstated, drawing upon the exotic species favoured at the time of the park’s inception, and paths have been sympathetically replaced and upgraded. New street furniture, lighting and bus shelters provide high quality amenity for park users, resulting in a safe and vibrant experience. Today, the park is alive with activity, attracting visitors throughout the day and year, testament to the success of the redevelopment project
PROJECT NAME: FRANKLIN SQUARE
AWARD CATEGORY:
AWARDS:
2019 TAS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AWARD