Meridian connects people through the integration of urban orchards. An Australian first, these urban orchards are the ‘social hub’ for the neighbourhood. The park at Meridian is at the heart of the resident group’s activities, an adaptable space that provides orchards for local food production, meeting and play spaces and spaces for the community to create their own use. The living, people-focused neighbourhood cultivates a sense of community and will continue to evolve and grow as more residents participate.
Meridian has been designed for people. Active people, people interacting with their neighbours, participating in social events and connecting with nature. Breaking away from a traditional residential development, people-focused streets and parks, urban orchards, local resident participation and integrated sustainability initiatives are an Australian first. Shared pedestrian streets at Meridian are extensions of open space. The streets are meeting spaces, walkways, orchards and extensions of front yards, followed by places for cars.
The booming community of Sunbury, a satellite suburb north-west of Melbourne is home to a new local park. The park is the latest recreational area in Ashfield estate, providing locals with a new active play area and a natural play space.
The natural play space includes climbing and exploration spaces and is set within a landscape of 70,000 indigenous plants and overlooks new wetlands and Harpers Creek valley. The new wetlands treat stormwater runoff from the local streets and provides local habitat.
After consulting with the public housing tenants, Stage 1 of the Atherton Gardens upgrade focused on improving the quality of life for the tenants. The award winning design focused on using sustainable materials and water saving systems to create a network of safe meeting spaces and improved connectivity and building entries. The landscape incorporates four water saving systems that harvest and treat laundry grey water and roof and car park storm water runoff. The project has reinvigorated pride in the housing estate and provided a new sustainable landscape.
New pedestrian-scale building entries, personal private spaces, community gardens and public access into the housing campus has reinvigorated the housing estate for both tenants and the public and provided many social benefits to the neighbourhood. The new landscape has provided a sense of building entry. Sunny meeting spaces for the residents, three community gardens and new public thoroughfares that link through the estate have drastically reduced anti-social behaviour and provided beautiful new spaces for the residents.