Designed by Studio-MLA (formerly Mia Lehrer + Associates) Ishihara Park in Santa Monica is a great example of an engaging new public park created in association with a major element of transport infrastructure. The City of Santa Monica developed the two block long narrow space into Ishihara Park alongside a new maintenance facility for the Expo light rail Line.

Opened to the public in February 2017, Ishihara Park is named after George Ishihara, a local resident who fought in the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War ll. The park site was formerly used as a parking lot and utility buildings, but with the construction of a new Metro maintenance facility across from a residential neighborhood the City saw an opportunity to develop a new park that provides a visual and environmental buffer between the residences and the maintenance facility.

The design vision and programming of the Park came out of a series of community workshops to ensure the needs of the existing neighbourhood were effectively served. The design concept reflects the community's desire for the park to incorporate cultural and natural diversity. Studio-MLA accepted the long linear and narrow site as a design opportunity to create eight distinct outdoor room-like garden spaces adjoining Exposition Boulevard on one side and light rail maintenance buildings on the other.

The garden spaces provide opportunities for exercise, discovery, play, group gatherings, barbequing, strolling or jogging. Each space is designed to evoke a sensory response by illuminating texture, colour, flavour, movement, or nature at work. The landscape design feature aspects of the Southern California through the selection of plant species and material including rocks and river worn gravel. Subtle ground shaping with material excavated to construct the water quality basins used to create a soil platform on which a grove of trees is planted. A series of water quality ponds and vegetated swales are integrated in to the landscape design.

While the park is strongly structured, it provides for discovery by inviting visitors to interact with landforms, sculptural elements, and each other in spontaneous ways. Accessible play and exercise equipment includes swing, teeter-totter, merry-go-round, sand area and sculptural boulder. BBQ grills and picnic tables are located below visually strong and robust pergola structures. The Learning Garden forms a highlight in the Park, acting as a communal spot to learn and acquire gardening skills by growing citrus, herbs and vegetables through communal gardening programs. Free City Wi-Fi is available within the Park.

The potential visual dominance of the high wall of the maintenance facility that forms one side of the park is mitigated by a combination of bamboo screen planting and articulation of the facade by incorporating sections of steel mesh and transparent safety glass. In addition the colour palate of the building has been applied to structural elements in the park, including the shade structures and fencing. The result is that wall of the Metro maintenance facility appears to be part of the park.

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Koala Habitat Establishment, Pacific Highway Upgrade, Wardell, NSW

A recent visit to Ballina on the north coast of NSW provided an opportunity to visit a 130 hectare area of new Koala habitat west of Wardell that Corkery Consulting was involved in. The project formed part of the Pacific Highway upgrade and provided a rare opportunity to contribute to the creation new habitat to support one of Australia’s iconic wildlife species, which is under increasing threat of extinction. It was particularly gratifying to see stands healthy trees beginning to provide new habitat for local Koala communities and a corridor connection between significant areas known habitat.

Gulgong Holtermann Museum, Photography Exhibition

On a recent visit to Mudgee we decided to visit Gulgong on our way back to Sydney. While I was aware that images of the town are featured on the original $10 bill issued in 1966, it was a very pleasant surprise to learn that the images the $10 bill were from the Holtermann Collection and that the recently constructed museum presents that portion of the Collection that comprises 350 historic images of Gulgong during the gold rush in the second half of the 19th century.

Nundle

Turn-off signs to Nundle appear at a number locations along the New England Highway south of Tamworth. While we had noticed the signs on numerous trips between Sydney and Uralla it was not until early this year that we visited Nundle. Located east of the highway and about 56 kilometers south of Tamworth the village of Nundle requires a detour to visit, so we decided to spend a night there to allow enough time to explore the village and surrounding landscape. The visit turned out to be a very enjoyable one that gave a delightful sense of discovery.

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Salesforce Transit Centre Rooftop Park, San Francisco

On a recent trip to San Francisco I took the opportunity to visit a new rooftop urban park located on top of the Salesforce Transit Centre located in the central business district that incorporates a bus interchange and provision for a future high-speed rail station below.

Designed by PWP Landscape Architecture the 2.2 hectares rooftop park is about 440 m long and 50 m wide. Inclusion of the rooftop park was a key element in the winning architectural design by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCPA).

Scottish Highlands Landscape Experience

A quick look at a topographic map of Scotland reveals the strong and clear pattern of mountains, valleys, lochs and coastline that form the landscape framework of the country. I was fortunate to travel with my family in the Scottish Highlands in September last year for the first time and experience its spectacular landscapes.

Old Rangoon

Until fairly recently access to Myanmar, known as Burma until 1988, presented a difficult challenge after decades of military imposed isolation. However, the country is gradually opening up to foreigners and I was fortunate to recently visit the capital Yangon for a project in the central region of the country. Formerly known as Rangoon, the city is one of mystery and intrigue partly created by the period of isolation but also the cultural layers that have been created over centuries. One of those layers involved Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka Chinese traders who settled in Rangoon during the 1800’s. However the dominant layer was created by British Colonial rule, which fundamentally changed the physical and social fabric of the city.

Myanmar Pagoda Construction

Pagodas are visually prominent elements throughout the landscape of Myanmar, earning the country the title "Land of Pagodas”. While pagodas feature prominently in several cities, including Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan they also occur commonly in rural areas.

On a recent visit to central Myanmar I was very fortunate to be able to visit a new pagoda under construction and walk though the internal spaces.

Waverton Coal Loader and Henry Lawson

Located on the western side of Waverton Peninsula, the Coal Loader presents a curious relic of heritage infrastructure with an overlay of contemporary urban landscape treatment. Set in the context of Sydney Harbour and the bushland environment of Balls Head, the site was originally a place of physical and spiritual sustenance for Aboriginal Australians.

Cornell Tech Campus, Roosevelt Island, New York City

One of the great experiences of the New York Subway system is that you can enter it from the context of one urban area of the City and then pop out in another urban space that has a totally different character.

On a recent visit to New York I left the rather undistinguished urban setting of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, descending to the subway and soon after popping out at street level on Roosevelt Island in the middle of the East River. Walking out on to the street I was confronted by the dramatic juxtaposition of the East River in the foreground and Manhattan skyline beyond, with the massive steel structure of the Queensboro Bridge looming above.

Domino Park, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC

Located on the edge of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Domino Park is the outcome of a large scale urban redevelopment of the former Domino Sugar Factory site. The 2.4 ha Park forms another new open space on a former industrial site that provides public access to the East River waterfront alongside the Williamsburg Bridge opposite Manhattan.

Walking towards the waterfront park through the dense urban fabric of Brooklyn the spatial experience is dramatised by views that open up between buildings and extend across the East River with the massive steel structure of the Williamsburg Bridge above.