While Melbourne has plenty of parks renowned for their beauty, the heart of our city is about to get even greener. A massive new urban garden will come to life in Southbank, spanning the same surface area as the MCG stadium.
Nestled in the centre of the arts precinct, Laak Boorndap will be an 18,000 square metre park filled with flora, a trickling waterway and contemporary art installations and sculptures. Its name means "heaven's beauty" in Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung language, and the space will also feature new artwork by First Nations artists.
The final designs for the lush garden have just been revealed to the public, consisting of innovative plans from world-class designers. The park was designed in collaboration with renowned horticulturalists Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough, who've worked on greenifying public spaces like London's Olympic Parklands. Planted on an elevated deck, the garden is set to be one of the most complex designs of any public garden in the world.
Dubbed as the biggest cultural infrastructure project in Australia, the park will have six sections, featuring native and introduced plant species. The selection of flora has been curated to ensure the greenery flourishes all year long and is ever-changing with the seasons. The park will wrap around Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall and the spired Theatres Building and stretch along to NGV International and the future The Fox: NGV Contemporary gallery.
Along with bringing more greenery to the arts precinct, the new park will also add a pedestrian pathway that'll make it much easier to walk through Southbank. The gardens will be built over the part of Sturt Street that runs between City Road and Southbank Boulevard, providing a new route to walk from the CBD to the rest of the arts precinct like Southbank Theatre and Malthouse Theatre.
The garden will be completed and ready to enjoy in 2026. The project is part of the huge revamp of the entire arts precinct, which also includes the new NGV Contemporary gallery and a massive makeover for Arts Centre Melbourne, which is all set to be finished in 2028.
Read more about the new garden here.
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