The Lily Pads

“The Lily Pads ‘belong’ in and enhance, the surrounding gardens…”

David Reid - Horticultural Coordinator, RTBG

The Lily Pads

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG)

Inspiration

The RTBG’s 200th anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate and what better way to do that than to revitalise the aging infrastructure of one of the Gardens’ most visited features through nuanced design of the highest order.

Outcomes

Our competition winning entry celebrated the Lily Pond in its simplest of forms – the lily pad. Drawing on this metaphor, the resulting decks float above the water and echo the lily pad structure of being rooted to the bottom of the pond.

Executed with CNC precision and rigorously resolved detailing, the Lily Pads provide a place to rest and play, allowing the visitor to engage with the Lily Pond beyond. The Lily Pads have become a platform for the celebration of life, imminently functional, aesthetically beautiful, structurally sound and celebrated by the community.

The jury for this award winning project were impressed by “...the simple, understated design approach” to the Lily Pads that blends “seamlessly with their context ... at once contemporary, with their precise timber and steel details, and deeply sympathetic to their historic context”. Inspiring Place are “commended for creating a unique structural intervention that invites the visitor to engage with a rich cultural and natural landscape in new ways.”