South Bank Grand Arbour, Brisbane

The South Bank Grand Arbour was designed by a Melbourne-based firm Denton Corker Marshall in 1997 and completed in 1999 in Brisbane, Australia. It earned a lot of architecture awards.

The kilometre-long Arbour is to set up a pedestrian pathway through the site and it separates the Brisbane River side from Grey Street. The snake-shaped structure which consists of 443 steel tendrils runs through the Parklands. It divides the South Bank Parklands into various sized circular spaces which serve different functions, as an open space for a shop, a beach, a grass ground, a pond and so on.

The main features of the Arbour are the armature of the tendrils forming the continuous contortions. The yellow lighting panels are also hung on the tendrils to create fantastic effect at night.

Adding colour to the green environment in Parklands, the planting in Arbour plays a significant role. Nine horizontal stainless steel cables are getting through each tendril to support the Arbour structure. Besides that, the cables provide the growing area for the bougainvillea. They provide the shades for the walkers and paint the Arbour in a wonderful colour.

The Arbour has become a place of growing importance to the local people and the visitors. The joggers like running in the pathways. Mothers lead their children to play in the Parklands and enjoy the walk. The Arbour is also a venue for different running races. Besides, as the rapid growth of tourism in Brisbane, more and more tourists flock in and the Grand Arbour is one of the attractions that they will not miss. From the Arbour, walkers can have a fantastic perspective view of the Brisbane CBD and, at the same time, they have a strong feeling that they are close to nature.

ources

*Beck, H. & Cooper, J. (2000). "Denton corker marshall: Rule playing and the ratbag element". Basel: Birkhauser - Publishers for Architecture.