(photos of Bowen Place project by Brett Boardman)
by Ron Bernthal
In 2011 Lahznimmo architects, based in Sydney, and the New Orleans-based Spackman Mossop Michaels Landscape
Architects, were invited to participate in a design competition by Australia’s National Capital Authority to design a new pedestrian and bicycle crossing for Bowen Place, located near the National Gallery of Australia in the country’s capital city of Canberra.
Within the context of the Parliamentary Zone, and the important heritage items the design response is simple and elegant. It does not detract from or compete with the existing items within the surrounding environment. It responds to and enhances existing landscape and place making opportunities.
The design response is fundamentally landscape driven, as the new underpass is part of a continuous path that slices through the terrain on a trajectory that speaks to the existing spaces of Bowen Place and the National Carillon. Thus, the new pedestrian and bicycle project was deliberately minimal to allow the beautiful landscaped setting to take precedence.
The path is contained by two wall types, the Deferential Wall, a smooth off-white pre-cast concrete that deliberately defers to the existing color of materials and tones within the Parliamentary Zone; and the Assertive Wall, composed of weathering steel that naturally ages to a rusty ochre appearance and appears to be wrinkled and compressed as it follows the tighter inside line of the path.
Situated between the underpass and Lake Burley Griffin, the Rain Garden collects and filters surface water from Bowen Place before it enters the lake. The compact copse of paperbarks sit within a bed of strappy green rushes and native grasses, framing the view from the underpass to the Carillon. In true Canberra fashion, the Bowen Place pedestrian and cyclist crossing also complements and showcases one of the city’s most distinctive pieces of architecture, the Carillon, which is in direct line of sight from each end of the pathway.
The Carillon – Canberra (photo © Commonwealth of Australia 2021)
Located within Canberra’s Parliamentary Triangle, between the National Gallery of Australia and Kings Avenue bridge, the project replaces a dangerous at-grade crossing on busy Bowen Drive with a pedestrian and cyclist underpass, completing the final link in the ‘Bridge to Bridge’ loop around Lake Burley Griffin. Bowen Place Crossing was recently exhibited in the Rhode Island School of Design exhibition in the US.
Parliament House – Canberra (Wikipedia Commons)
A Bowen Place pedestrian and cyclist crossing is a fitting vista, and adds to the unique architectural palette of Australia’s national capital, and definitely a worthy addition to Canberra’s architectural landscape. The project, which was completed in 2015, with a cost of about USD$6 million, has won numerous awards, including the 2016 Canberra Medallion, AIA ACT Awards; 2016 Sir John Overall Award for Urban Design, AIA ACT Awards; and the 2016 Walter Burley Griffin Awards for Urban Design, AIA National
