On display at The Ian Potter Centre in August, ‘Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070’ invites eight leading Australian landscape architecture and design firms to reimagine the lands and waters of Birrarung (the Yarra River) and create an exciting vision for how communities can better access, engage with and care for this important living ecosystem. 

Presented by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in association with the Birrarung Council and guided through consultation with Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Elders, the exhibition showcases provocative and innovative design proposals by Aspect Studios, Bush Projects, McGregor Coxall, Office, Openwork, Realm Studios, SBLA and TCL. 

Through an exhibition of renders, illustrations, 3D models, interactive maps and multimedia, each studio will present its vision for a site along the river corridor in the year 2070. Their visions will extend from the city centre and the eastern suburbs through to the river’s source in the Yarra Ranges.  

Teams were invited to explore how emerging technologies, science and First Nations knowledge systems might influence or enhance our relationship with Birrarung over the next five decades. In response, they will present both speculative and real-world solutions for the future management of our waterways, highlighting the valuable role and impact of landscape design in their protection.

NGV director Tony Ellwood AM says this landscape architecture exhibition represents an “important step” in the pursuit of preserving the life, memory and future of the Birrarung River. 

“Through the presentation of thought-provoking and real-world possibilities, the exhibition asks audiences to consider what we want for the future of Birrarung, as well as what this river, as a living entity, wants for itself,” he says.

The Birrarung Council adds that it encourages the dialogue and thinking this exhibition opens, marking a step in the journey of “shared stewardship” to collectively shape and advocate for the Birrarung. 

Eight solutions from eight studios

Aspect Studios

Presented through cinematic images and animations, Aspect Studios has conceived of a vivid future designed around a broadened river corridor, supported by expansive parklands made possible by the removal of the Eastern Freeway. Aspect Studios proposes a river landscape at the heart of the city where big trees and swimmable waterways are at the core of the community. 

Bush Projects

Bush Projects transports visitors into a future where increasing pressures on land use, climate change and biodiversity loss have eroded natural ecosystems to a critical point of national priority. In response, the Upper Yarra catchment area is established as a biodiversity protection zone only accessible by Traditional Custodians and the River Rangers whose role in protecting our environment is respected and revered by the community at large. 

McGregor Coxall

Using advanced data modelling of population growth, urban development, public sentiment and environmental change, McGregor Coxall literally and figuratively project a vision of the future of Birrarung. Presented as an animated projection across a large-scale topography model of the Birrarung catchment, the proposal presents a visual timeline where decision-making relating to the river and its lands is based on data-based research, cultural knowledge and environmental conditions. 

Office 

Shining a spotlight on the inequity in land and water use along Birrarung, Office will premiere a new video work that questions how the lands surrounding the Birrarung are used for private and public activity,  where the river’s waters are siphoned to, and who has access to the enjoyment of this public land and amenity.  

Openwork 

Openwork envisions a radical moment in the governance of Greater Melbourne that sees the Birrarung catchment area secede from the current structure of local governments to form an autonomous territory with independently agreed behaviours and strategies for future infrastructure development. In its proposal, key infrastructure, including major roads, drains and transmission towers within the catchment boundary are repurposed for use by humans, plants and animals. 

Realm Studios

Using urban density and heat mapping analysis, Realm Studios has designed an alternative to Melbourne’s current trajectory of increasingly overheated urban conditions. Through a series of postcards from the future, the designers invite audiences to imagine a city where land has been given back to Birrarung, historic buildings become the site of aquaculture and autonomous robotic entities help care for the landscape. 

SBLA

Creating a composite map of Birrarung made from layered photographs captured over many months, SBLA uncovers the often-imperceptible layers that form the river ecosystem. From insects to the river’s currents, household rubbish and rainwater runoff, the map presents a diagram of the river’s present condition alongside future interventions, such as soft-scaped gardens and footpaths.  

TCL 

Tracing the geological transformations that result from a distant future shaped by fire, drought, flood and a dramatic shift in human habitation away from the river’s lands, TCL will present detailed core samples that offer a glimpse into the environmental events and collective cultural decisions that could occur into the future. The core samples reveal how the way we live with Birrarung can either defend or destroy the landscape far below the surface. 

Visit Reimagining Birrarung

Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070 is on display with free entry from 23 August 2024 to 2 February 2025 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square. For further information, visit the NGV website.

Lead image of Manningham Road Bridge, 2070. Image: Openwork.

IDEA launch a new Outdoor Design category in 2024. View the shortlist here.