Railway Park Play by Plummer and Smith

Aboriginal Nation

Arakwal People of the Bundjalung Nation

Location

Byron Bay, New South Wales

Client

Byron Shire Council

Jury comment

The jury celebrated this significant reworking and recrafting of the existing Railway Park in Byron Bay as a sensitive and purposeful collaboration between the council, the local community and the region’s Aboriginal community, the Arakwal people. The new park provides a vital and beautiful outdoor community space. The landscape designers have successfully celebrated, protected, retained and repurposed the significant existing trees throughout the park. These existing trees have been seen as “heroes” and are now totally engaged by young and old members of the community through innovative nature and adventure play that has been intertwined with these living treasures. The design team engaged with the local Arakwal youth as co-collaborators in embedding stories and meaning into the park, which manifest throughout the park’s fabric as integrated artworks.

Entrant Plummer and Smith Project lead Plummer and Smith (Dan Plummer, Belinda Smith, Effie Cooke, Marguerite Pollard) Design collaboration for main play element Plummer and Smith with Fleetwood Urban Play element fabrication Fleetwood Urban Landscape contractor Greenwood Landscape Management Custom furniture fabrication Malcolm Graffin Building Civil engineer Planit Consulting Structural engineer Westera Partners Lighting and electrical engineer Preferred Energy Play certification Kico Playground Inspection Services (Michael Kearnes) Project management Planit Consulting (Matt Plain) and Plummer and Smith Photography Natalie McComas