Transurban Queensland (TQ) as a road system manager and road developer have recently completed a significant road enhancement project through its Logan City and Brisbane City Council network. The Logan Enhancement Project features was completed in early 2020 with some 15km of new road construction and 20 new bridges designed to improve safety and reduce congestion.

In conjunction with this broadscale road upgrade, TQ had seeded the idea of a TQ Community Legacy Project to provide specific benefit for the local community through which the recent works traversed. A project that would foster aspirations of active and healthy transport, intergenerational dialogue and learning was seen to be a worthy direction to explore. The development of Learn to Ride Bicycle facilities (Cycle Parks) was then selected and it was at this time that TQ engaged LatStudios to input into the conversation. 

Our design team conceptualised an experiential approach of traversing the distinct landscape characters along TQ’s South East Queensland network that could be integrated within the proposed Cycle Parks at the selected site locations in Logan (Demeio Park, Marsden) and Brisbane (Greenways Esplanade Park, Parkinson).

Our Design Process

LatStudios explored the local TQ network and the communities that it connects. The design team teased out this narrative of local character as a way of developing a logical landscape setting for the Cycle Parks. These character zones would influence materials, plant communities, finishes and colours, topography and route articulation.

The material palettes reflected the nuances of each dominant character zone identified. Showcasing what makes each area special to assist in developing a stronger sense of place along the route and create experiences for the rider that demonstrate an awareness of road conditions, other path users, differing speeds and changes in direction thus instilling an appreciation for road safety and skill development for the riders.

While the project may appear as a gift to the community it was project with a real budget, a designated timeframe and very high expectations from within TQ.

Learning through Play

As designers we appreciate play spaces have the ability to awaken the senses, stir imagination and foster cognitive balance and social development. This is indeed a rich ground for learning.

Learning to ride is a formative step in many children’s lives. A point in time where excitement, fear and success race in hot pursuit.

Our team ensured a balanced approach between a sense of drama and childlike excitement of space in the knowledge that the outcome would require a very logical, pragmatic and coherent level of thinking and awareness for its users. Learning to ride requires a place to hone basic skills, therefore the route is still required to achieve compliance in design and safety as well as meet the proportions and turning movements of a cycle route that the beginner cyclist will be navigating in the not to distant future.

Our outcomes would infuse playful story telling through design elements referencing iconic local bridges, materiality and vegetation qualities that reinforce the local community context in which the network connects.

As designers we appreciate play spaces can offer more than swings... Why not roundabouts?

The Challenge

• Balancing a sense of drama and childlike excitement in the project with the knowledge that the outcome would require a very logical, pragmatic and coherent level of thinking and awareness for its users. This is a place for learning and honing of basic skills, therefore the route is still required to achieve compliance in design and safety as well as meet the proportions and turning movements of a cycle route that the beginner cyclist will be navigating in the future.
• Creating a destination within an established park that would be adding benefit to the experiences and not detracting from what was valued.
• Infusing playful story telling through the design that would reference elements from the TQ network in its bridge features, materiality and quality that would serve as meaningful reminder to the experiences you may encounter TQ’s network  

The Team

• Client: Transurban
• Builder: Doval Constructions
• Landscape Architecture: LatStudios
• Civil Engineer: Inertia Engineering
• Play Certifier: CCEP
• Environment: S5 Environmental
• Survey: Statewide Survey