FOOKS Landscape Architecture & Urban Design

[WORK IN PROGRESS] Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: @cityofyarra Landscape Architect: FOOKS FOOKS project team: Marti Fooks and Cailtin Butt Contractors: @udlgroup Artist: Alex Kerr @liwik_yiyah_consulting Civil and Structural Engineers: Farrar D (now civi Studio) Irrigation: Make It Wet Cost Planning: Beck Quantity Surveying Play: Play DMC.

ngurrak barring comprises 39 kilometres of walking trails linking local townships through the Dandenong Ranges. The network is accessible from multiple entry points and can be explored in many combinations to suit your time and interests. This is an incredible project, advocated over many years and a testament to the advocacy of council and the community. Our contribution to the project, with Yarra Ranges Council and Parks Victoria, included a new, complex section of the trail, native gardens and the node — Regeneration Artwork at Kalorama. This photo captures our sweeping pathways as they move across a steep incline, integrated with boulders, planting and vertical timber batten balustrades that echo the materiality, colour and form of the surrounding Mountain Ash EVC. Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: @yrcouncil with @parksvic . Landscape Architect, trail and Artwork: FOOKS FOOKS team: Cailtin Butt, Reece Dellora Contractors: RJ Kent Plant growers: Southern Dandenong Community Nursery and Yarraview Artist: Jon Tarry Civil and Structural Engineers: @intraxeng Trail design support: @tricky.tracks

At Lalor Neighbourhood House, FOOKS Landscape Architecture worked with artists and locals to shape an art-filled community garden.⁠ ⁠ With a modest budget, FOOKS focused on durable gestures: a brick-pillar shade structure that lends civic presence and doubles as a canvas for murals by Alex Kerr (Wurundjeri), Bushra Hasan and Ildiko Kormanyos; custom seating; and robust, easily repainted materials. Planting is indigenous and soft-edged – billy buttons and kangaroo grass weave through productive wicking beds – while an avenue of fruit trees makes use of the median strip.⁠ ⁠ The result strengthens daily life: classes, harvests, school pick-up conversations.⁠ ⁠ Backed by the City of Whittlesea and maintained by trained volunteers, the garden ties art, food and Country together – a colourful, low-maintenance meeting place for Lalor.⁠ ⁠ ~feat. @lalorneighbourhoodhouse + @citywhittlesea ⁠ ~landscape @fooks____ ⁠ ~build by @id_landscaping ⁠ ~text @ellielouhere ⁠ ~photos @will.hamiltoncoates ⁠ ⁠ 👉🏽 Read more inside issue 106, available now [LINK IN BIO].⁠

[work in progress] Parkhill Primary School, Ashwood | Bunurong.

Green roof. Client: @lalorneighbourhoodhouse With @citywhittlesea Built by @id_landscaping

Lalor Neighbourhood House Garden, Recipient of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Award, Category is Community Contribution “ I have the pleasure of working in the Lalor NH Garden as the Community Garden Facilitator. Please know that your thoughtful design lives on in the community. We have so much happiness, shared conversation, plenty of problem solving, and some tears whilst out working in the garden. We have given custodianship of the veggie beds to local community members to grow their own produce, including those with trauma and others just wanting to connect in a hostile world. Our plan is to cultivate the produce and make some delicious food together. Please do come back and visit us and bask in the little pocket of joy you helped create for us in Lalor.” “Excellent! Well done.... Every time I come to work I am encouraged to see our lovely garden and also the beautiful artwork...” “Amazing – what a privilege it is to work here :-) Well done [FOOKS] and everyone involved.” “Wow, congratulations what an achievement. The garden design is definitely looking good. I think our neighbourhood house surely looks amazing. Our amazing project did get the community together and made our neighbourhood house so welcoming. “ AILA Victorian Chapter - Award Citation Lalor Neighbourhood Garden highlights the importance of relationship building throughout the design process, as well as in design outcomes. Through careful strategising, budgeting and collaboration, the project was sensitively delivered alongside a community of contributors. Structures and seating were custom designed considering ease of maintenance. The garden provides a playful series of structures and spaces that enable ongoing processes of community building. It also ‘greens’ the neighbourhood by expanding into the streetscape and the wider Lalor context. Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: Lalor Neighbourhood House @lalorneighbourhoodhouse Artist: @indybindi_kitsch_art @liwik_yiyah_consulting With @citywhittlesea Build by: @id_landscaping 📸 @will.hamiltoncoates

[Work in progress] ngurrak barring walking trail, Kalorama, Mount Dandenong. We’ve been hard at work supporting the construction of our inspiring and meaningful project at Kalorama Park in Mount Dandenong. The ngurrak barring is a 39-kilometre walking trail that winds through the breathtaking natural beauty of the Dandenong Ranges—a landscape rich in cultural significance and artistic heritage. This area has long been a source of inspiration for some of Australia’s most influential artists and designers, including the iconic Edna Walling. Our section of the ngurrak barring trail—crafted from stone, gravel, and earth—connects the May Moon Track to the Five Ways intersection. It honours Edna’s legacy, reflecting her philosophy of working harmoniously with the land through material choice and natural flows. Here’s a collection of work-in-progress photos taken over the past few months. Check out our earlier posts to see the site before construction began. For more information on the nugrrak barring trail, go to ngurrakbarring.com.au Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: Yarra Ranges Shire Council Support: Victorian Governments Growing Suburbs Fund. with support from Parks Victoria. Team: Artist (sculpture): Tarrmac studios Landscape and Trail Design: FOOKS Landscape Architecture Civil and Structural Engineering: Intrax Consulting Contractors: RJ Kent

[Work in progress] ngurrak barring walking trail, Kalorama, Mount Dandenong. We’ve been hard at work supporting the construction of our inspiring and meaningful project at Kalorama Park in Mount Dandenong. The ngurrak barring is a 39-kilometre walking trail that winds through the breathtaking natural beauty of the Dandenong Ranges—a landscape rich in cultural significance and artistic heritage. This area has long been a source of inspiration for some of Australia’s most influential artists and designers, including the iconic Edna Walling. Our section of the ngurrak barring trail—crafted from stone, gravel, and earth—connects the May Moon Track to the Five Ways intersection. It honours Edna’s legacy, reflecting her philosophy of working harmoniously with the land through material choice and natural flows. Here’s a collection of work-in-progress photos taken over the past few months. Check out our earlier posts to see the site before construction began. For more information on the nugrrak barring trail, go to ngurrakbarring.com.au Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: Yarra Ranges Shire Council Support: Victorian Governments Growing Suburbs Fund. with support from Parks Victoria. Team: Artist (sculpture): Tarrmac studios Landscape and Trail Design: FOOKS Landscape Architecture Civil and Structural Engineering: Intrax Consulting Contractors: RJ Kent

[Work in progress] ngurrak barring walking trail, Kalorama, Mount Dandenong. We’ve been hard at work supporting the construction of our inspiring and meaningful project at Kalorama Park in Mount Dandenong. The ngurrak barring is a 39-kilometre walking trail that winds through the breathtaking natural beauty of the Dandenong Ranges—a landscape rich in cultural significance and artistic heritage. This area has long been a source of inspiration for some of Australia’s most influential artists and designers, including the iconic Edna Walling. Our section of the ngurrak barring trail—crafted from stone, gravel, and earth—connects the May Moon Track to the Five Ways intersection. It honours Edna’s legacy, reflecting her philosophy of working harmoniously with the land through material choice and natural flows. Here’s a collection of work-in-progress photos taken over the past few months. Check out our earlier posts to see the site before construction began. For more information on the nugrrak barring trail, go to ngurrakbarring.com.au Country: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Client: Yarra Ranges Shire Council Support: Victorian Governments Growing Suburbs Fund. with support from Parks Victoria. Team: Artist (sculpture): Tarrmac studios Landscape and Trail Design: FOOKS Landscape Architecture Civil and Structural Engineering: Intrax Consulting Contractors: RJ Kent

Arbor. Connected. Delight. Grounded. We have been working with Yarra City Council and Wurundjeri on the design for a new playground at Fairfield Park. We are pleased to share the design with the Community. Please go have a look at Councils Have Your Say webpage. This project takes place on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Client: City of Yarra Team: Civil and structural: Ferrars D Cost Planning Becks Quantity Surveying Play: PlayDMC

Fairfield Park is significant destination for tourists and locals for a range of recreational activities and connection to the Yarra River. The proposed playground, at the North edge of Fairfield Park will replace the existing one and elevate Fairfield Park Playground into a Citywide Level open space that serves both local residents’ and tourists’ alike. The new play will compliment the existing activities of the Fairfield Boathouse, the bushland and adjacent recreation reserve.. The new playground will provide for all ages and abilities, fostering a happy and healthy community. We have been working with Yarra City Council and Wurundjeri on the design for a new playground at Fairfield Park. We are pleased to share the design with the Community. Please go have a look at Councils Have Your Say webpage. This project takes place on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Client: City of Yarra Team: Civil and structural: Ferrars D Cost Planning Becks Quantity Surveying Play: PlayDMC

The proposed new playground will be nestled perfectly amongst the existing trees, using their canopies to create a playful environment which is grounded in this beautiful landscape setting, on the edge of the Birrarung River. Centered around the existing large oak tree, the play area sits underneath its canopy to frame a nature play and water play area. Garden beds with curvilinear arrangement follow the edge of the canopy and link to the adjacent play areas. The water rill travels through the garden beds creating a moment of discovery and delight. We have been working with Yarra City Council and Wurundjeri on the design for a new playground at Fairfield Park. We are pleased to share the design with the Community. Please go have a look at Councils Have Your Say webpage. Link in bio. This project takes place on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Client: City of Yarra Team: Civil and structural: Ferrars D Cost Planning Becks Quantity Surveying Play: PlayDMC