Cheltenham Recreation Reserve

Pollen was engaged by Bayside City Council to complete the design for a new district-level playspace at Cheltenham Recreation Reserve in Cheltenham.

This project brought a wonderland of existing trees, imagining an Ewok Village, as well as Cheltenham Station’s original Down Station Building being repurposed as a covered social space for birthday parties and football spectators alike. The playspace concept maximises opportunities for shade, inclusivity, improved sightlines, and cooling mist play.

Retaining and celebrating mature trees was prioritised, including a beautiful Corymbia maculata (Spotted Gum) interrupting the Down Station’s roof (a bucket list item for the whole Pollen team: to have a tree growing through a building!) The old Down Station Building was preserved and kept in storage following a Level Crossing Removal project.

The other treasure of the site was a early 1900s steamroller, caged up and rusting away, which now sits as an active centrepiece to the playground and its narrative. Behind it, a ‘rubber road’ is flattened in its wake amongst undulating mounding and topography. In front, nature play elements thrive with steppers, boulders, and custom play towers leading up to a skywalk through the treetops. You can almost hear the Ewoks from the upper decks!

PROJECT TEAM

• Ash Sankey (Building Design – Down Station)
• Architecture & Access (Access)
• Webb (Lighting Design)
• Advanced Building Consulting Engineers (Electrical Engineering)
• Clive Steele Partners (Civil & Structural Engineering)
• Park and Playspace (Play Auditing)
• D-Tech (Service Proofing)