facilitate pedestrian flow between both sides of the street,
in addition to providing attractive meeting places. Though
these abut the area used by vehicles, the designers have
almost entirely mollified the sense of sitting kerbside, next to
the street, helping accomplish Hansen Partnership’s objective
of enhancing pedestrian experiences.
The “garden” narrative introduced into the square also
contributes to the community’s enjoyment of the shared
space. The discrete, raised concrete-edged garden beds
designed to emulate those areas of lawn and shrubs attached
to farmhouses, in particularly the insertions of swards into
the hard landscape, are strikingly effective juxtapositions
of elements. Two ash tree varieties, Fraxinus pennsylvanica
‘Lednaw’ and Fraxinus americana ‘Chamdell,’ are planted side-
by-side in three of the grassed beds, enhancing the articulation
of the design. Together with these garden beds guarding the
approaches and channelling vehicles into the square, inclined
cobbled strips line the immediate road entrances to the shared
space, visually and haptically informing motorists of their
imminent arrival, immediately alerting them to the square’s
presence. Gannawarra Shire Council should be encouraged
to lay new bitumen at the interfaces between the street and
the square as the current poor surface distracts from the crisp
finished lines of Hansen Partnership’s design.Another issue arose following the square’s comple
tion when an existing hundred-year-old manna gum04
Sloped cobbled areas define
the road entrances to the
street, drawing attention
to the shared pedestrian-
vehicular character of the
space.
04