landscape architecture

project: olive justice place, cowes

client: bass coast shire

description of project
hansen designed and documented a new public plaza within the central retail area of Cowes being the primary activity centre of Phillip Island. The brief required the design to address a number of key issues including the provision of public toilets and a visitor information facility, retention of the existing bus/taxi interchange adjacent to the site and acknowledgement of the former owner of the land, Olive Justice, who´s estate donated the land to the Council on the proviso that it be developed as a public space where locals and visitors alike could take time out from the bustle of Cowes to sit and relax.

The preferred design concept was developed in close consultation with the project steering committee and a range of other local stakeholders. Extensive research into the type and format for the public toilets was undertaken to ensure that the facility would cater for the significant number of elderly persons in the community, with access for wheelchair users and people with ambulant disabilities considered vital. The concept was recently adopted by Council, with documentation and subsequent implementation due to occur shortly.