The Shrine of Remembrance, Australia, by Rush Wright Associates

The Shrine of Remembrance is a place of State and National cultural importance and one of Melbourne’s most significant cultural landscapes. The Shrine commission, in association with ARM architects, proposed a masterplan “vision” for the redevelopment of the Shrine building and the surrounding 11-hectare reserve parkland in Melbourne, Australia.

The completion of the four courtyards completes a phase of work which has included continuous involvement by Rush Wright Associates since 2000, comprehending the Reserve Masterplan (2000-2004), Gallipoli Memorial (2006), Fromelles Memorial (2008), Five Year Tree Plan (2009-2015) and Birdwood Avenue improvements (2014).

The redevelopment of the 1934 Shrine Building took place over two main stages – the Shrine’s new Visitor Centre, 2004, and the Galleries of Remembrance, 2014. Rush Wright Associate’s detailed work included the two main garden courtyards flanking the west side of the Shrine and the school children’s entry/event space on the southeast corner; rectification works to the Shrine mound and Gallipoli memorial.

There are many linked ideas in the garden designs of the four courtyards: the transplanting of large tree specimens and highly detailed plant designs which reference the colours, qualities, and landscapes of the theatres of war and peacekeeping.

In parallel with this work Rush Wright Associates also prepared a landscape management plan for the Reserve, articulating future landscape works to support the original idea of the Shrine as a Temenos, a locally “sacred space” and place of reflection set within the woodland of Australian and Mediterranean trees.

“These spaces have become vital parts of our visitor and staff experience, without which the project would be so greatly diminished. For school groups, the elderly, international tourists and local visitation, the courtyards are the introduction to a visit to the Shrine and the first part of the journey
and education in remembrance.“

– Denis Baguley, CEO, Shrine of Remembrance, 2003-2015.

AWARDS FOR THE VISITOR CENTRE & GARDEN COURTYARD

2016 AILA Victorian Award of Excellence Cultural Heritage

2005 CCAA Public Domain Award – Walls (Winner)

2004 RAIA The Victoria Architecture Medal

2004 John George Knight Heritage Architecture Award

2004 William Wardell Award – Institutional

2004 The Melbourne Prize

2004 National – The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design

2004 MBAV The Age Excellence in Construction of Commercial Buildings

2004 Celebrating Melbourne Award, Urban Design

2003 AILA Merit – (Design) Buildings & Infrastructure