Honeysuckle Placemaking
This project takes an active and creative approach to addressing issues of ongoing urban vacancy and public space activation in Newcastle’s Honeysuckle District. The project encompasses a series of interventions that poetically engage with the site’s multilayered history while imagining the possibilities for a future Newcastle.
The jury were impressed with the diversity of the interventions that ranged from more ambient experiences of the district’s cultural history through public art projections through to more information-based virtual audio guides. A program of events that highlighted ongoing social issues in the area, and a deconstructed shipping container that emphasizes connections between the site and the wider Newcastle landscape, have stimulated interest in the site and created a narrative that links the site’s Indigenous and industrial pasts with present and future opportunities.
The project has been informed by a systematic and rigorous research, design and post-occupancy process that offers significant insight into the specific outcomes and effectiveness of each design intervention. The jury were impressed with the scope and comprehensiveness of the project in light of its quite modest budget. The Honeysuckle Placemaking project is a well-executed series of public activations that has enlivened an area currently struggling with urban renewal. It illustrates how landscape architecture, through tactical interventions, might stimulate interest and investment in the local economy.
PROJECT NAME: HONEYSUCKLE PLACEMAKING
AWARD CATEGORY: SMALL PROJECTS
AWARDS:
2019 NSW AWARD OF EXCELLENCE