A landscape of healing and repair

Creating windows to Country: City of Stirling forecourt

Once part of the ancient chain of lakes linking Njookenbooro (Herdsman Lake) to Lake Gwelup through to Goongoongup (Claisebrook Cove), the site bore little trace of the wetland ecologies and cultural histories that shaped this Country for thousands of years. The new design reveals and re-establishes these local ecologies through strategic cuts in the existing concrete grid, allowing rain gardens, Tuart trees, and Melaleuca groves to re-emerge. Vegetation once again acts as a filter, as it had done for thousands of years when the site was a dampland.

This is a landscape of healing and repair.

The design prioritises shaded pedestrian movement and creates opportunities for gathering by removing parking from the forecourt. The existing structural grid is respected and informs orthogonal geometries of new planter beds and seats. The enhanced wayfinding and greener spatial structure helps visitors navigate the administrative precinct with ease and comfort. A traditional yarning circle is a prominent symbol of the City's commitment to reconciliation and pride in its Whadjuk Noongar heritage.

Material re-use is central to the project’s sustainability approach. Concrete slabs removed to make way for new planting were not discarded; instead, they were reused as stacked seating plinths placed adjacent their original locations. This approach reduced waste, preserved embodied energy, and created visible “truth windows” by peeling back the landscape to reveal Country.

The resulting aesthetic, of exposed and raw concrete, draws from a history of post-industrial design in which completely new ways of seeing and experiencing infrastructure can be created through minimal interventions.