Revitalising Dandenong with a space for connection
Developed as part of a 20-year program of renewal and revitalisation in the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria, the new Springvale Community Precinct offers a space of connection for the people of Melbourne.
Officially opened in April, the $12 million landscape collaboration between Rush Wright Associates and Lyons Architects includes a community centre, new library, public gardens, play areas, outdoor performance spaces, and a repurposed Springvale City Hall building as an event venue.
The new Springvale Community Precinct. Image credit - John Gollings and Rush Wright Associates.
The four-hectare site on Springvale Road is close to civic landmarks and public transport, with bespoke furniture, a basketball court, a ceremonial indigenous fire pit by Kirrae Whurrong artist Fiona Clarke, and play spaces focusing on nature play.
A unified park extending over 2.6 hectares offers paths that swell and tighten to create unique spaces and allow for easy circulation. Small, sculptural hills define one edge, with the large central lawn tilting gently.
Springvale Community Precinct is both colourful and textured. Its hub building features coloured glazed brick on its west face, and a water feature in its foreground. Wrapping around a stand of river red gums, it demonstrates, “the importance of the land and the protection of the Australian landscape.”
The precinct is part of a 20-year program of renewal and revitalisation in the City of Greater Dandenong. Victoria. Image credit - John Gollings and Rush Wright Associates.
The precinct has been designed for ecological resilience, with swales and water management on-site. Almost all original trees have been retained, and more of these exotic species have been added around the edge of the park. The heart of the park has instead been planted with a varied palette of native species.
A giant, three-dimensional, chain-mesh “Springvale” sign will in time be covered in bursts of bougainvillea. Native to Vietnam, the inclusion of this species acts as a nod to the local Vietnamese community.
“Borders”, Springvale Community Precinct’s main artwork, runs east-west through the park and consists of laser-cut Corten steel panels showing the coastlines of origin of Springvale’s main migrant communities. These are layered with text from firsthand migrant experiences, and artist Paul Carter’s poetic contributions.
The four-hectare site is close to civic landmarks and public transport. Image credit - John Gollings and Rush Wright Associates.
Rush Wright Associates say the Community Precinct, “will continue to be an important public asset and focal open space providing a multitude of recreational amenities which will attract residents from both the local neighbourhood as well as the wider region.”
Further, the, “diversity and abundance of cultural references in the material and planting selections are inspired by the surrounding suburban fabric and its many social and cultural groups. They become the principal drivers of the precinct design providing a welcoming and fresh insight into amazing Springvale.”