Laak Boorndap Urban Garden
Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation
CLIENT: Hassell for Development Victoria and Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co)
NATURE: Major Public Realm, Partnership, Planting Design +
TIMELINE: In Design and Construction for 2028
SCOPE: Planting design, creative, subject matter expertise
DESIGN PARTNERS: Hassell, SO-IL, James Hitchmough & Nigel Dunnett
OVERVIEW:
Laak Boorndap forms part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation Project and is a new 18,000 square metre urban garden in the heart of Melbourne’s city centre. The name means ‘heaven’s beauty’ and was bestowed by Traditional Owner, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elder Aunty Gail Smith, as a beautiful place for all people to visit and recognise Wurundjeri Country and Wurundjeri ancestors.
Set amongst the bustle and density of the city, Laak Boorndap will offer an immersive and biodiverse landscape experience, bringing the gentle rhythms of nature into the centre of the urban environment. Planted entirely on an elevated deck, the garden is at the forefront of contemporary planting design and is unique in the world in its planting density, scale and climate resiliency.
Designed to flourish within Melbourne’s climate, the garden will evolve dynamically across the seasons, ensuring year-round beauty, ecological value and continual moments of delight. The planting design embraces a bold and layered naturalistic approach, using a carefully curated mix of native and introduced species including trees, grasses, perennials and flowering flora, each selected for its resilience, seasonal interest and contribution to biodiversity.
At the heart of Laak Boorndap richly textured planting will create habitat and food sources for birds, bees and butterflies, while also offering visitors the experience of moving through a landscape that feels alive, generous and ever-changing. The garden seeks to foster a deeper connection between people and the natural world, demonstrating the powerful role planting can play within contemporary urban life.
Distinctly Australian in character, the planting palette has been carefully developed to respond to Melbourne’s dry summer climate while celebrating the beauty and complexity of local ecologies. Through highly dynamic and multi-layered planting communities, Laak Boorndap will present a contemporary vision for public gardens, one where ecological sustainability, cultural storytelling and sensory experience exist together.
As both public garden and cultural destination, Laak Boorndap will become a significant civic landscape for Melbourne: a place for gathering, reflection, art, performance and everyday encounters with nature.
Image credit: Hassell Studios
‘The idea is both brazen and shocking. It runs counter to all we’ve come to expect from public urban spaces in the 21st century. “Fill it with flowering plants” is just not the sort of thing we do with an open 18,000 square metres in the heart of one of Australia’s most built-up cities.’
Megan Backhouse, The Age
CULTIVATED VALUE
Creative Planting Vision
Super Bloom plays a fundamental role in shaping and realising the naturalistic planting vision for Laak Boorndap, bringing an artful and innovative approach to planting design within a major public arts precinct.
Collaborative Leadership & Holistic Contribution
Super Bloom works collaboratively across the wider project team, including HASSELL, MAP Co, Development Victoria and key stakeholders, contributing not only to planting design, but also to procurement, plant placement, management insights and broader project delivery.
Specialist Horticultural & Climate Expertise
Super Bloom brings deep knowledge of dry summer climate species and Southern Hemisphere planting systems, informed by extensive international horticultural research, industry experience and long-term cultivation expertise.
Integrated Design, Testing & Engagement
Through involvement in plant trials, the test garden, horticultural programming and project activation, Super Bloom helps integrate design thinking with practical implementation, engagement and long-term landscape performance.
Industry & Community Connectivity
Super Bloom provides valuable connections across the nursery, grower and horticultural sectors, helping foster industry participation, knowledge-sharing and community engagement for the project.
A LIVING ART EXHIBITION
The planting will respond dynamically to the seasons and changing environmental conditions, ensuring the garden is continually evolving throughout the year.
Richly layered and immersive, Laak Boorndap will present an abundant and biodiverse planting experience where plants take centre stage, inviting visitors to engage with the texture, movement and luminosity of nature within the heart of the city.
A FUTURE PROOF GARDEN
As cities around the world continue to respond to changing climatic conditions, rising temperatures and increasing urban density, Laak Boorndap forms part of a broader global movement to integrate resilient green spaces into contemporary urban environments.
The garden has been carefully designed to support long-term plant performance within these evolving conditions, with planting selections developed to respond to a range of environmental factors. The densely layered planting communities have been rigorously tested and curated for their adaptability, resilience and seasonal performance, demonstrating how richly biodiverse public landscapes can thrive within urban settings, paving the way for future large-scale planting projects across the world.
THE SEASONS OF LAAK BOOrNDAP
THE TEST GARDEN
The Test Garden is a living demonstration of the floral planting scheme that will be seen on a larger scale at Laak Boorndap.
THE PLANT TRIALS
The plants for Laak Boorndap are going through rigorous testing to ensure they will be able to withstand extreme conditions, ensuring they will thrive and flourish once in place.
WILD AT HEART
Laak Boorndap was featured in The Age with a story ‘Wild At Heart’ by Megan Backhouse which goes into generous detail about the development and how it is being cultivated.