INTEGRAL LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DESIGN FOR MONASH UNIVERSITY’S CAULFIELD CAMPUS

A water feature, a bright blue sports ground, at the other end a platform with a beautiful pavilion, and lawns, benches and wooden decks everywhere – Monash University’s Caulfield campus in Melbourne is tough competition for the lecture halls and seminar rooms. The redesign of the campus including a former car park was so successful that the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) awarded the VIC Urban Design Award of Excellence to the project.

Lighting designers from the company Electrolight were involved in the planning process from an early stage. This is can be seen in a particularly close interlinking of the design of the park and the lighting concept. An example of the consistent integration of the lighting in the environment is the lighting solution for the sports ground. “Sports ground lighting is usually characterised by four poles positioned in the corners”, says Jess Perry, director of Electrolight. “But here we departed from this traditional approach and implemented a more theatrical lighting effect instead of conventional flood lighting for the area that features graphic elements and lettering.” FLC141 LED projectors with snoots are used. They are fitted on clearly inclined poles which – like the projectors – are painted in the blue of the flooring.

In contrast, the general lighting chosen for the campus has a stronger focus on functional aspects. The planners decided to use RFL530 LED street and area lighting luminaires along the main path. One pole holds two luminaires. Those that illuminate the path have asymmetric ‘side throw’ distribution, while the luminaires directed at the adjoining areas, lawns and terraces fitted with [A60] lenses have symmetric ‘forward throw’ distribution. Supplementing them, FLC121 LED projectors fitted unobtrusively on the parapet of the surrounding buildings illuminate smaller side paths on the campus.

The special material and surface structure of the Caulfield Sound Shell pavilion is illuminated by ETC300 inground luminaires from WE-EF. Further ETC300 variants add lighting accents around the whole campus on selected trees, mark contours, zone areas and highlight details. They are fitted with a large range of optical accessories, from wallwash to narrow, linear lenses.

Project participants (selection):
Principal: Monash University, www.monash.edu
Landscape architects: TCL – Taylor Cullity Lethlean, www.tcl.net.au
Light planning: Electrolight, http://electrolight.com
Artwork on the sports ground: Agatha Gothe Snape, https://agathagothesnape.net