EVENTS
WE-EF at AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture 2019
The sixth AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture – The Square and The Park – took place in the WE-EF home city of Melbourne on the 10-13th October 2019. Celebrating their 25th anniversary of WE-EF in Australia/New Zealand, the exterior lighting specialist took the Festival key events as an opportunity to reflect upon the values it is known for and to connect with the landscape architecture community.
Words by: WE-EF
Mornington Peninsula Industry Tour
This year’s WE-EF tour brought over 20 landscape architecture professionals over to the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, located just an hour drive from Melbourne. Pretty seaside villages, pristine beaches, superb wineries and restaurants make the Mornington Peninsula a wonderful year-round destination loved by visitors from all over Australia and overseas. The guests visited two remarkable project sites – Mornington, the heart of the region, and the luxurious Jackalope Hotel.
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Senior Civil Designer Darren Simnett spoke about the Mornington pier and laneways upgrade project. Built during the 1850s in Victoria to provide a safe berth for steamships carrying holiday-makers from Melbourne, the pier remains a popular recreational destination for sightseeing, fishing and scuba diving. The 2016 redevelopment helped to develop better access to the area, reduce parking pressure and improve the walkways at the pier forecourt. As a part of the area redevelopment the laneways were also upgraded to create a safer environment and enhance overall appearance which, in turn, led to increased user numbers. WE-EF Victorian Sales Partner, Buckford Illumination Group supplied a wide range of WE-EF luminaires for this project, mainly VFL500 street and area luminaires with corrosion-resistant AML-K poles; they were chosen for their low upward light spill and for their proven resistance to severe weather conditions, including an aggressive marine climate.
The tour continued to the award-winning Jackalope Hotel, located on the grounds of the Willow Creek Vineyard, framed by hedgerows and rolling hills. The Hotel’s Sales and Event manager Ms Karina Reyne showed the property and shared a story of how the hotel was conceived by the Melbourne entrepreneur Louis Li. The beautiful surrounds of the hotel were designed by the Australian landscape architecture practice TCL. While visiting the kitchen gardens that inspire the creation of the hotel’s menus, the tour visitors were even offered to taste edible flowers! The tour finished with an exquisite lunch and wine tasting at the Rare Hare restaurant.
A special thank you goes to Anthony Strangis from Buckford Illumination Group who made time fly on the bus, running a trivia. Congratulations to the winning masterminds, well done!
During two days of the International Landscape Architecture Conference at the Deakin Edge, Federation Square WE-EF again welcomed attendees at the WE-EF HUB. The delegates came to claim their gifts (WE-EF yoga mats have been very popular this year!), make themselves a refreshing smoothie at one of the WE-EF “Bike n’Blend” stations and learn more about the WE-EF brand and history.
A WE-EF “Bike n’Blend” station in action.
The WE-EF’s party was kicked off in style: on Friday, 11 October luxurious stretch limousines delivered more than 100 guests to a mysterious secret location in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. On arrival, the guests time-travelled back to the 1920s and joined the prohibition-era themed WE-EF Silver Party. Dressed up as gangsters and flappers the guests enjoyed delicious food and drinks to the sound of a live jazz band and had a great time connecting with colleagues and friends after a busy first day of the conference.
WE-EF 2019 After Dark National Competition
This year’s nation-wide search for Australia’s best landscape architectural lighting is over, with the expert jury crowning the Yagan Square, Perth by Aspect Studio as the country’s overall best-lit landscape architecture project. The Yagan Square is an inclusive, welcoming and active cultural and civic destination, which embodies a new urban typology, fusing culture, history, art, food, architecture and landscape. The project is a collaboration between Lyons Architects, IPH architects and ASPECT Studios, working with the MRA and Whadjuk Working Group. A representative of the National Winner’s project team is receiving an all-expenses paid trip to the WE-EF LIGHTING Design and Manufacturing Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, in early 2020.
The regional winners of this year’s competition are ‘LightGarden’ The Common West End (QLD/NT) by RPS, Greville Street and Grattan Gardens Prahran (VIC/TAS) by Rush Wright Associates and Steam Mill Lane and Little Hay Street – Darling Square (NSW/ACT) by ASPECT Studios. Our congratulations to all winners and many thanks to all practices who participated in the competition.
We are also pleased to announce that the WE-EF After Dark Landscape Competition will continue in 2020 and we are looking forward to seeing next year’s project design submissions.
Australian Dark Sky Lighting Certification Program Announced
WE-EF have been a long-time supporter of Dark Sky friendly lighting and designs full cut-off street and area luminaires with precise optical control. This year, WE-EF LIGHTING and Australasian Dark Sky Alliance (ADSA) have joined forces to reduce the growing issue of light pollution. The result is the “ADSA Approved” program, aimed to develop Australia’s first database for lighting hardware suitable for use in Dark Sky friendly planning, which was officially launched at the 2019 International Landscape Architecture Conference on Saturday, 12 October.
“WE-EF LIGHTING are proud to help found this benchmark project with Australasian Dark Sky Alliance. As a manufacturer of exterior luminaires that are not only night-sky friendly but environmentally sensitive, our joint commitment with ADSA creates a sound union for better outdoor lighting Australia-wide,” said Alyona Cerfontyne, Head of Marketing at WE-EF Australia/New Zealand.
Read more about the program.
AILA Fellows’ Dinner 2019
On Saturday, 13 October WE-EF had a great pleasure to host the 2019 AILA Festival Fellows’ Dinner together with Street Furniture Australia. We enjoyed the lovely atmosphere, amazing food and an entertaining Q&A discussion with the AILA FRESH VICTORIA co-chair Gabrielle Carrasco and FAILA’s Paul Thompson run by Foreground’s Jo Russell Clarke.
We would like to say a huge thank you to our sales partners – Buckford Illumination Group, Light Culture Australia, H.I. Lighting, Raylinc Lighting and the AILA team for their invaluable help during the Festival and we are looking forward to seeing you all in Perth in 2020.
