project
Katherine Town Square
| Client | Katherine Town Council |
| Location | Katherine, NT |
| Completion Year | 2024 |
| Sector | Landscape Architecture |
| Urban Design | |
| Government |
| Project Manager |
Fiona Eddleston
Director & Landscape Architect
The casual dining and lounge areas have been reimagined with stylish furnishings and intuitive layouts that promote social interaction, reinforcing the sense of community within the development. The combined effect of these upgrades has not only enhanced the everyday experience for residents but also significantly increased the overall value of the unit complex.
Key objectives
Transform underutilized space into a vibrant community hub.
Provide shade and cooling with mature trees and misters.
Enable year-round events through flexible plaza design.
Enhance nighttime appeal with festoon lighting and projection art.
Overcome service coordination challenges to ensure tree growth and long-term amenity.
Project Story
The Katherine Town Master Plan identified the civic park was a major location in the town streetscape, but the space was underutilised because it lacked shade and amenity. Bennett Architectures Landscape Architects redesigned the space to become a large, shaded plaza, that could accommodate many of the town’s events throughout the calendar year. The public space is supported with mature trees, misters for cooling, a stage, kiosk, seating options and with festoon lighting and projection art for nighttime drama. The project was difficult to deliver in the requirement to coordinate the landscape services in and around the existing services running below the plaza space. The constructed tree pits were large and fit in among the service mains to ensure the growth of the trees and their maturation to form the leafy canopy above the festoon lighting frame. Bennett Architecture was engaged to develop the concept design for the public space upgrade, document the scope of hard and soft landscape works and assist with the construction phase of the works. The Mayor of Katherine and the public now program the space with NADOC week, Christmas and show day functions as well as movie nights in the dry season which brings the whole community together.
