North Fitzroy, City of Yarra, 2010

Batman Street Reserve is a tiny pocket park situated in a hidden enclave amongst the terrace houses of North Fitzroy. The existing reserve had some unique qualities with large canopy trees spreading shade across a quiet green lawn. Local residents used the park as an extended back yard, often going there to read or to have community BBQ’s.

The design aimed to keep the existing qualities of the park, whilst upgrading some of the tired furniture elements, thinning out weeds and replacing dying trees. A custom designed timber bench was designed to wrap around the south-east corner of the site to capture the sunniest portion of what is otherwise a very shady space. New planting with recycled brick mulch beds helped define the edges of the park and carefully situated bench seats were placed to allow quiet moments of seclusion.  A key feature of the reserve was to paint the existing picket fence that ran along the front of the park in various shades of blue, signifying the park entrance and adding an element of playfulness.