Here Laurel Nannup’s modest yet beautiful art pieces, When I Lived In The Bush and Kulbardi, are inscribed by perforation onto metal screens that form part of the shelters. This area is dotted with simple well-designed picnic shelters and barbecues. Whadjuk artist Sharyn Egan’s Waabiny Mia, a playhouse based on a numbat tunnel, is fantastic as both a work of art and play structure.
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In the brief time since its opening, children have taken full advantage of the lighter sticks left behind, assembling and reassembling the numerous lean-tos and mia-mias (temporary shelters) that now dot the landscape. The contours create a rolling landscape of discovery with hundreds of salvaged logs casually defining spaces and play. The six Noongar seasons provide the spiritual scaffolding for the terrific playground with stories and learning opportunities embedded sculpturally throughout.
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At the right time of day, this shadow play delightfully compels one to come along and follow the flock.Īboriginal artist Sharyn Egan’s Waabiny Mia – Play House (partial view) is a woven rope structure based on a numbat tunnel that encourages free play.Īlong the river’s softer edge, a parkland with subtle contours has been created around an existing river-fed lake, nestling the three-hectare Chevron Parkland. Perforated metal shapes suspended from the well-positioned arches seem to have taken flight, like pieces of folded paper having caught a breeze. Moving through the arches, however, the arbour reveals an appealing space that is nuanced and refined. At a distance the highly reflective arches seem pure folly. A 400-metre arbour of hyperbolic white ribs flows alongside the stadium, visually and physically leading fans from the bridge landing, around the stadium to the main gate’s forecourt on the east. A pedestrian bridge across the Swan River, the Matagarup Bridge, is, at the time of writing, still under construction, but when completed will provide necessary access to East Perth.
This gentle aesthetic continues along to the southern bus hub and the newly opened Camfield pub. Unfussy and welcoming, a large forecourt area is designed to slow and calmly manoeuvre fans between the site’s two train stations to the main entry gates. To the south and east, the landscape is very much designed to move people expediently. Even for Perth, the overall landscape is big and, except for the massive doughnut in the middle, unencumbered in views with lines of site across its expanse as well as to the CBD beyond. Hassell was the landscape architect for the project from masterplan to implementation. This became a crucial obligation with a later decision to axe game day parking facilities – a concept very foreign to Perth’s car-loving sensibilities. However, with the government’s recognition of the site’s potential to integrate with future planning, and momentarily cashed-up through revenue from the resource boom, Barnett managed to secure the site with a serious financial commitment to create a purpose-built public transport hub.
Burswood was considered the costliest and most undesirable of the sites for several reasons – its geotechnical challenges compounded with no existing public transportation infrastructure, there were few vehicular access points and the immediate area surrounding lacked restaurants and bars for both pre and post-game conviviality. The recommendation was for one multi-purpose stadium with, three possible sites – an area adjacent to the East Perth Power Station, the existing Subiaco Oval site, and, almost a footnote in its announcement, the Burswood peninsula. As early as 2005, a taskforce was established by the then Labor government to review Perth’s existing three arenas and confer with major sports codes to define and locate a stadium for the diverse sporting and entertainment requirements of Perth’s future. In 2011, the Barnett government announced the Burswood Peninsula to be the site of Perth’s long-awaited Stadium.
The stadium and its surrounding precinct sit to the east of Perth’s CBD and are flanked on three sides by the Swan River.