P.JOHNS©

The City Council has built a new park in Melbourne, one that shrugs off nineteenth century preoccupations and shoulders some newer ones.

This city is built homesickness. Its older northern parks stamp green union jacks onto the Hoddle Grid. The strip of parks south of the river sculpt undulating english landscapes out of the swamp. The new Birrarung Marr connects and completes the series, if it can be argued that this is in fact a park.

On a leftover, scalene-shaped site, Birrarung Marr abuts the Exhibition Street extension and the reduced rail yards. The Yarra River's curve forms the conservative southern edge of the park. A line of Dutch Elms remains so that from the river the view is pretty much undisturbed. A wide band of granitic stone follows this edge of the park. This dirtstone is a nice change from the usual grass and path solution, but on the down side it makes the area difficult to use for anything other than walking or petanque.

A steel prow juts out of the river bank marking the park's centre, as if some old wreck had been unearthed and left. It's similar to the curved steel wall at the Yarra turning basin opposite the casino (Urban Design Unit/DCM 1995). This new wall is less exciting. It is tall, a monochromatic grey, and awaiting graffiti.

The park's centre is a big dirt parade ground. It seems bare and purposeless (unless Melbourne were to hold the world petanque championships). Birrarung is stated to be an 'event' park on the Federation Square website, betraying its Kennett Government origins. This means that the park will only be in its intended state when it is inhabited by an event with attendant crowd. The rest of the time (ie most of the time) the park is empty, waiting... but at least accessible.

Detailing in this park is highly refined, befitting its proximity to a design-fussed central city. No off-the-shelf treated pine here. Street furniture and bridgeways are fine assemblies of galvanised steel and odourous oiled hardwood.

A modern eye has pieced together ensembles of materials quite alien to typical Melbourne parks, and a welcome relief. An avenue of soft broken shell is flanked on one side by a band of small river stones then a steep fern bank. On the other side is a formal line of gums and a low wall formed from large broken stones. It is a pity to see this avenue shoot off in an untravelled direction. For its variety of materials helps to balance the shortfall elsewhere.

This is a park for marching in, not a garden for meandering in. Paths lead in straight lines off in all directions. At the park's centre is a constructivist collision of all the paths and bridges. Linear built form dominates. Hills here are noticeably "built". The one elevated field is flat on top with a steep drop off at the squared-off perimeter. Nature obeys formal geometries.

A pillared footbridge of almost violent linearity spears and slices at the park, literally glowing red, before plowing into the ground. This is an exclamatory bridge, if there can be such a thing. It joins quite happily with DCM's gesturing blade architecture.

That park word is confusing expectations of how birrarung marr should be guaged. If Birrarung Marr is an event field or pedestrian way, then it succeeds very well. If this place had numberplates, they would read "Victoria : On The Move" rather than "Victoria : Garden State."

Peter Johns ©

The former lord mayor of Melbourne in 2001.
<<At 8.6 hectares, [Birrarung Marr] is almost three times the size of Federation Square and is specifically designed to host large events. It is a contemporary addition to complete Melbourne'sgreen belt of parks around the city and will give Melburnians a new experience of urbanparkland, providing space for a host of activities.>>