Whitehorse Council’s Box Hill Gardens Multipurpose Area has won the 2014 Architecture Award in the Urban Design category from the Australian Institute of Architects.
The Architecture Award, announced on 23 June 2014, comes after the Box Hill Gardens Multipurpose Area won an Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award last year and was nominated for a Premier’s Design Award.
The redevelopment of the gardens also won a Parks and Leisure Australia Award for Open Space Development in 2014.
The area was designed by ASPECT Studios and NMBW Architecture Studio and is equipped with state-of-the-art surfaces and facilities to make it a true community hub for sport and recreation pursuits.
There is an outdoor basketball court, a rebound wall for tennis and cricket, a netball hoop, outdoor table tennis tables, further recreation areas and spectator seating.
Ongoing redevelopment work has included an underground stormwater harvesting system, a new, expansive multipurpose area and the construction of a 1km circuit path named Wrightes Run, after early Box Hill settler, Arundel Wrighte.
As part of the Box Hill Gardens Master Plan, finalised in 2011, the multipurpose area is one element of the continuing rejuvenation of the gardens in central Box Hill.
Other recommendations from the master plan include the upgrade of all lighting through the park, development of a major new playground, and creation of a number of seating and gathering spaces.
The multipurpose area will join other Victorian award winners up for the National Awards to be announced by the Australian Institute of Architecture in Darwin on November 6 this year.
