Townsville North Rail Yards
2017 National Landscape Architecture Award - Urban Design
2017 Queensland Landscape Architecture Award - Urban Design
Tract Consultants
The Townsville North Rail Yards project provides a strong and inspired conceptual framework to guide the future redevelopment of this important waterfront site in Far-North Queensland. In the past decade, many cities have embarked on waterfront redevelopments that largely ignored the local context and character in pursuit of a modern global style such as we now see in Dubai, Singapore, Melbourne's Southbank and Sydney's Barangaroo.
This project adopted a rigorous 'Inquiry by Design' process of research, workshops, options analysis and economic reviews to establish key urban design principles that are 'of the place' and celebrate the uniqueness of the site.
Integrating new development opportunities with the existing heritage structures, the project aims to differentiate itself from other places in Townsville and provides a richness of experience that has strong connections the site's history and the community. The street layout provides strong connections into the surrounding urban areas and the proposed configuration of civic spaces and buildings creates dynamic spaces while opening up the waterfront to the public.
This is a concept that would admirably facilitate incremental development in line with investment opportunities and phasing without diluting the strength of the spatial configuration and character. Implementation with plant species and landscape treatments as well as an architecture that responds to the tropical climate and context will make this an outstanding place for future generations to live, work and play.
