DANDENONG’S Lonsdale Street redevelopment has been overlooked in favour of an alley piled with milk crates in the Melbourne Design Awards announced last week.
The multimillion-dollar redevelopment was beaten by PlayMo in Drewery Alley — the only other shortlisted nominee in the urban design category.
PlayMo was a concept inviting city users to “be the author of your own place”. In a structure made of milk crates, people contributed plants, a bin, artwork, lights and cushions.
Ahead of the awards, organisers had been lobbied by disability advocates and disabled users who had complained about the redesigned streetscape’s cobblestone pavers, a lack of kerbside ramps in parking bays, steep kerbside ramps and a hazardous bus thoroughfare in Langhorne and Lonsdale streets.
Prior to the awards, director Mark Bergin said judges would not mark down the design as it complied with Australian Standards, but it created a dilemma given the design was not “meeting the needs of some stakeholders”.
The redevelopment wasn’t totally unrewarded, however — the median strip’s multicolour poles won the lighting design award.
Details: melbournedesignawards.com
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