BENDIGO Hospital and botanic garden projects have taken top awards Victorian landscape architecture.
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Winners of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects' Victorian awards were announced Friday night.
The highest honor the group can give went to Bendigo hospital landscape designers OCCULUS Landscape Architecture + Urban Design.
The award is given to projects judged to be the most significant for the advancement of landscape architecture in Victoria.
The design connected 46 diverse and hardworking landscapes while setting "a new benchmark for future healthcare environments in Australia", judges said.
A landscape architecture award for the Bendigo Botanic Gardens' garden for the future went to TCL.
The garden showcases more than 30,000 climate-resilient plants.
Judges were impressed by experiments with rare and curious plants that tested notions of what a botanic garden could be.
Bendigo Hospital - what the judges said:
"Bendigo Hospital by Oculus with Paul Thompson is an exemplary civic landscape, designed by an interdisciplinary team and delivered through public-private-partnership.
"Responding to drivers of 'connection and kindness' the project has produced a network of forty-six diverse and hard working landscapes. They are arrived at through a clear hierarchy of streets and walkways that engage with the broader city, hospital and topography.
"Informed by best practice biophilic design and adopting an evidence-based approach, the landscapes provide relief, distraction, choice, support and areas for recovery and rehabilitation.
"Recognising the region's significant cultural heritage, the design team collaborated with the Dja Dja Wurring Clans Aboriginal Corporation on the co-design and construction of an Aboriginal Services Courtyard and Aboriginal garden, both creating employment opportunities for locals through the 'Closing the Gap' initiative.
"Site-specific artworks are integrated across the precinct, which is underpinned by rainwater harvesting and reuse, water sensitive urban design, and significant increases in biodiversity, habitat and urban forest.
"Restorative and broadly nurturing, Bendigo Hospital sets a new benchmark for future healthcare environments in Australia, arrived at through inclusive design processes."
Garden for the future - what the judges said
"The Garden for the Future is an ambitious extension of the Bendigo Botanic Gardens showcasing more than 30,000 climate-resilient plants set within a multi-purpose garden setting.
"The design draws upon the extensive experience of its multi-disciplinary team to demonstrate how gardens can be more than simply xeriscapes in extreme climates such as Bendigo's.
"Playing with an array of unique cultural references, the garden also experiments with rare and curious plants to test the notions of what a botanical garden can be."
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