World Architecture Festival 2013: this year's award for the best landscape project at the World Architecture Festival has gone to a botanical garden at a former quarry in Australia.
Situated in a former sand quarry in Cranbourne, outside Melbourne, The Australian Garden was designed by landscape studio Taylor Cullity Lethlean and plant expert Paul Thompson.
The garden is laid out as a journey through Australian fauna, from the desert to the coast, set among buildings and beside artificial lakes.
The garden showcases 170,000 plants across 1700 species, and is used by both researchers and the public.
"This garden brilliantly summarises the great variety of Australian flora as well as the large part of the country which is arid desert," said the panel of judges. "Like a botanic garden, it is a collection of difference, but with a strong unifying set of journeys through the various landscapes.
"This landscape stood out with its originality and strong evocation of Australian identity without having to use any signs or words – just the beautiful flora of Australia’s countryside."
Last year the World Landscape of the Year title was given to a riverside park in Singapore.
World Building of the Year 2013 was awarded to the Auckland Art Gallery and World Interior of the Year 2013 was presented to a tiled apartment in Barcelona.