Dairy Road
Dairy Road
Location
Ngunnawal Country
Canberra, ACT
For
Molonglo
Design Team
Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture
David Chipperfield Architects
Project Period
2021-ongoing
Diverse Places
Located on the outskirts of Canberra and bordering the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, this new residential development is part of a mixed-use site that will include industrial, commercial and cultural buildings. Working in close collaboration with David Chipperfield Architects, the proposal will regenerate the almost four-hectare site as a continuation of the wetland reserve ecosystem. A series of three and four-storey buildings are set within a newly created garden that extends onto the buildings themselves, supporting hydrology, landscape and future community.
The site is currently largely occupied by a mound of spoil from the construction of the parliament building and national gallery in the 1970s and 80s. The excavated spoil will be used to sculpt a new, terraced topography that improves the site's relationship to its surroundings. The 12 individual buildings are arranged around a central landscape space along the site’s east-west axis that changes from open grassland where it meets the wetland to woodland towards the east. Woven into this gradient of landscapes will be areas for gathering, reflection and play. A swale collects, filters and directs rainwater towards an ecological pool that will slowly release water into the wetland.
On either side of the central garden, pairs of buildings frame semi-enclosed courtyards, creating a neighbourhood scale in between that of the individual blocks and the masterplan. Buildings accommodate a mix of affordable apartments and terraced houses that are designed for flexibility, allowing adaptation by the residents according to their needs and lifestyles.
