Why Is Sandstone An Alternative Landscaping Material For Civil & Commercial Projects?
Bungarribee Park Playground - Gosford Quarries Medium Brown Profiled Carved Sandstone Blocks - JMD Design
Landscaping Design for any public space is about creating spaces that enhance or encourage connection with nature and with community, that are both functional and beautiful.
Landscape Design creates meaningful places to visit, to have recreation or rest, or a combination thereof.
Sandstone, as a natural stone landscaping material, has become increasingly popular and specified in wider applications by landscape architects and civil designers in public space projects for Government and Councils throughout New South Wales, Melbourne and Brisbane. This also holds increasingly true in commercial landscaping projects as well.
In terms of environmental sustainability, this natural stone for commercial and civil landscaping projects is 100% recyclable, ‘green’, thermally stable and is environmentally suited to our climate as it is sourced locally from Gosford Quarries Australian Sandstone quarries.
As our sandstone supplies for landscaping projects are extracted from the same area at which it is installed, Gosford Quarries sandstone products blend aesthetically, beautifully and naturally when installed as landscaping log seats (in sandstone yarning circles for example), crazy paving, landscaping barriers, sandstone retaining walls, rumble strips in bike tracks, water features, accessible pathway borders and garden edging and garden features for play area spaces.
Sandstone blocks, logs or billets can be utilised to delineate landscaped areas where a landscaping designer wants to create a particular function or aesthetic as a cultural and/or natural in-situ experience to the visitor’s journey and experience in a public space; whether it is structured, formal or more ‘natural’ in design.
Heritage Conservation, Environmental Protection, Natural Habitats and Wildlife Protection in Public Parks, Nature Reserves And National Parks
As well as parks and recreational public landscaped spaces, Councils and Developers are focussing across coastal management programs and integrating lake areas, estuaries, national parks, conservation areas, public parks, play areas and defining significant protected areas in various locations across NSW particularly (such as the protection program of Quolls (a locally ‘extinct’ marsupial native to Australia) in a new national park slated for Western Sydney).
The new Shanes Park will not only protect local species but “will become a tourist destination and allow visitors to see what the Australian bush was like over 200 years ago”, for example, while reintroducing extinct and declining fauna, reptiles and frogs and providing these species with ‘predator-free’ areas.
The contemporary design theme of blending ‘the old with the new’, (or, in landscaping ethic, the natural with the created or installed) presents design challenges and opportunities to landscaping architects and civil designers as they work closely with government sector agencies and bodies in a concerted effort to ensure we have measures of protection and natural and landscaped public space retention for public use.
It is incumbent on all key stakeholders in this network of governance and oversight of Public Space to work in concert to ensure the expansion, management, retention and addition of national park areas and reserves as populations grow and expand their footprint, requiring more natural spaces as a complement to urban sprawl.
Sandstone can play a role in creating these natural habitats that encourage native wildlife and marine life to flourish as Gosford Quarries Sandstone products are all 100% Natural. Our VENM classified sandstone materials allow chemical-free filtration and encourage natural organism growth and habitat creation.
March 2022 will feature Parks Week, “an annual celebration of the important role that our parks play in contributing to the health of our communities”.
Sandstone for Landscaping Retaining Walls And Natural Barriers
Speers Point - Gosford Quarries Landscaping Quarry Sandstone Logs (1m and 2m) - Quarry Run Non-Select - Playground and Seating Area
Sandstone retaining walls, for example, can help alleviate erosion and provide stability in landscaping design where there is a tiered, natural slope to the land in reserves, parks & public spaces. Retaining walls can be a striking feature as in ballast walls or random walling (free-form) patterned freestanding structures as well as more practical solid retaining block solutions.
Sandstone, integrated with purpose, can be utilised in landscaping design requiring a particular functional approach and necessity along with creating a dynamic space for community wellbeing.
In fact, the mental and physical health of communities is incredibly and positively impacted by green spaces, natural spaces, public and community spaces and areas where people can go to relax, play, rest and rejuvenate while surrounded by natural materials.
A helpful article is our 6 Options for Your Next Retaining Wall, as reference for sandstone retaining walls in landscaping projects.
Natural Stone Supply For Park Projects And Public Landscaping Projects
City of Melbourne's Nature Play at Royal Park - Gosford Quarries Natural Sandstone Blocks, Boulders and Civil Materials
Sandstone raw quarry products, natural more rustic finishes like hydrasplit and rock faced sandstone finishes or the finer, more bespoke sandstone finishes like gang sawn and diamond sawn products can be utilised in public spaces to create ad-hoc or more formal seating, walls, enclosures, sculptures and public artworks. The list is endless.
“Sandstone is versatile and can impact the way a community space is used when integrated in creative and original ways. These dynamic spaces allow communities to create connection and unity, encouraging a celebration of people, place, natural beauty and embracing community life connected to the land.”
The balance of function, aesthetic, conservation, management and land-use is a delicate challenge to achieve while striking synergy in design ethic.
Landscaping designers can execute planned public spaces with the appearance of ‘nature’ executed in design as ‘coincidence’ (blending perfectly with the environment, the experiencer embracing the intent as naturally occurring) versus more formal, original spaces like play areas, community spaces where there may be more explicit human ingenuity of design such as natural carved stone seating, natural barriers, profiled sandstone sculptures and other elements juxtaposing the space to create interest, contemporary beauty and scope for human interaction, appreciation and communion.
One of the tenets of NSW Government environmental initiatives and parks projects is to present a variety of natural environments, thereby providing diversity in different sites of conservation and protection at specific locations. Sandstone, when integrated into landscaping design, can certainly provide an incredible diversity of form, function and visual appeal.
In terms of land protection of the environment, and of habitats and wildlife, the issue presented is to solve the inherent challenge of creating protected lands while also retaining the biodiversity and cultural heritage of the area parallel to protective efforts.
Public consultation, encouraged and often mandated by the Government in public space projects, and considerations of land protection and care, are especially important when involving our indigenous people and custodial land owners, respect for their own participation in, and stewardship, of the Australian landscape.
In fact, wider community consultation is often a directive of public space design in Phase 0 (research phase) and Phase 1 (concept and visual plan), stages respectively.
The blending of these ‘public spaces’, or ‘natural places’, into a holistic, functional, environmentally sustainable outdoor space and place where there will be human interaction with landscaping design is at the heart of many current and planned projects by Government and Councils.
Resources for environment.nsw.gov.au to learn about new national parks and reserves in NSW can be found here.
If you are interested to find out more relating to newly acquisitioned public lands earmarked for conservation and public use refer to Land recently acquired for parks found here.
You can learn about your own area in NSW, protection strategies, local flora and fauna, facilities, planning, etc, here on environment.nsw.gov.au
Waverley Council have created two wonderful documents of reference from both community consultation and their own research and planning material you also may like to learn about
Sandstone Colour Ranges To Paint The Landscape With Design
Gosford Quarries Sandstone Logs and Solid Walling Blocks - Aaronds Landscapes - Childcare Playground, Victoria
The versatility of Gosford Quarries sandstone colour ranges in browns (affectionately known and industry termed as Hawkesbury Sandstone), whites and pinks can also bring a surprising and delightful element of warmth to environmental features and provide contrast to colouring surrounding these designed spaces as well.
All of the above considerations are held to heart by landscaping designers in the creation of their overall design and how it will interact with, and absorb a public space that will be inhabited by people, whatever that space may be.
Open Space Design
The wonderful publication ‘Open Space Design Guidelines’ cites:
““A growing body of research from around the world is adding weight to what most of us have intuitively believed, that our parks and open spaces are good for us. But what is also emerging from this research is that the quality of design of our public open spaces has a direct bearing on how often we use these spaces, how safe we feel when we are there and what level of enjoyment and wellbeing we gain from the experience.””
The landscape design of public space is a way to engender shared values, connect all members of the community and provide a ‘meeting place’ where we can find a common ground, feel safe and content with each other and be reminded of our place in our world, individually and collectively. Public spaces remind us of our nascent connection to the natural environment (‘nature’) we originate from and return to.
Proposing Sandstone Products And Sandstone Applications To Deliver Creative, Living Spaces For Public Art And Projects
Commercial Project Artwork - Profiled Sandstone CNC Cube Design, George St Yellow Block Sandstone Colour Range
Landscaping Designers also liaise with cultural officers and community planners, artists and community representatives looking to create spaces for community projects; particularly the execution of arts projects for disciplines like placemaking.
Placemaking is “a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces”.
These ‘placemaking spaces’ promote health, happiness and wellbeing for communities with all that transpires within them. They are often a crucial and vibrant facet of specific space planning projects and public landscaping design ensuring public spaces retain their organic and multifaceted use, thereby increasing their intrinsic value.
Symbiotic relationships between Government bodies, Civil Designers, Landscape Designers, community leaders, Council members, artists, Indigenous leaders and the general public ensure an optimum design and vision when devising and planning new and renewed public spaces.
Public Artworks Created From Natural Australian Sandstone
“Gosford Quarries are leaders and innovators in sandstone technology and thus take immense pride in having the capability to create unique, bespoke artworks that no other sandstone supplier can produce. We work closely with Artists, architects, designers and communities to produce sandstone into a variety of forms. These range from carved murals to solid sculptural artworks and formations with rich historical and cultural significance. ”
An example of this is the incredible Wurrungwuri Sculpture in Sydney.
A Public Artwork Created With Sandstone - The “Wurrungwuri Stone Sculpture”
Wurrungwuri Sculpture Sydney Punched and Boasted Custom Carved Sandstone Design - Indigenous Artwork Sculpture in Construction
The “Wurrungwuri Stone Sculpture” is the outcome of a bequest in the will of the late Ronald Johnson. The will directed that a substantial sum of money should be used to provide a work of sculpture to be placed on the Sydney Harbour foreshore. Following an international competition the Trustees of the Estate selected Chris Booth, an internationally renowned sculptor from New Zealand to develop the sculpture. The site chosen for the sculpture is close to Government House in the Royal Botanical Gardens.
The initial challenge for the engineers was to work with Chris Booth’s 1:50 scale ‘maquette’ in clay. This clay model was to become the ‘contract document’ that defined the intent of the sculpture.
From the model Arup created a geometrical background in Rhino3D from which all individual stones and connecting bolt components could be analysed and further drawn.
Wurrungwuri Sculpture Sydney Punched and Boasted Custom Carved Sandstone Design - Indigenous Artwork Sculpture in Construction
The sculpture comprises two separate stone items:
A quartz stone ‘wave form’ of woven quartz pebbles incorporating an aboriginal shield design from the Sydney Gadigal community.
An undulating sandstone wave form in three separate strata sometimes laid over each other. These stones are all connected mechanically by through bolting, no stones are attached by conventional masonry means. Approximately 300 individually sawn and drilled stones up to 1.0 tonne in weight were supplied to the project. Some stones exceeded 3m in length and half a meter in thickness. Mostly all touching faces of stones were sawn to within 2mm tolerances and no sides are square or parallel. All intersecting drill holes for bolt connections are drilled in 3D space. Each stone was cut to shape and drilled from a detailed drawing generated from the 3D model supplied by Arup.
The Piles Creek and Wondabyne sandstone wave form with its undulation and separation is reminiscent of the typical Hawkesbury sandstone strata that has been subjected over millennia to weathering and movement by tectonic forces.
The Importance Of Public Parks And Reserves As Places of Joy, Recreation, Community And Well-Being
Bridges Hill Park Playground – Gosford Quarries Raw Sandstone Blocks Cut to Size and Standard Landscape Logs - Photo Credit: Moir Landscape Architecture
“As we emerge from the restriction of Covid, our public spaces will become crucial locations for the healing and rejuvenation of our communities by visiting parks, reserves and recreation and play areas.
In fact, any place where we can go and connect with nature and the outdoors will be far more appreciated and coveted. These spaces are for everyone and Civil Architects, Landscape Architects and Landscape Designers have new opportunities to provide wonderful and unique experiences when imagining the spaces in which people can exercise, interact and engage, traverse, experience and explore.”
As areas also industrialise and urbanise, there is a parallel need for natural spaces free of the impact of our developing civilisation here in Australia and its indelible footprint claiming more and more of our natural environment in urban spread.
Places where a community may feel a loss or change in the ‘natural feel’ of surroundings can be enhanced and energised by using natural elements such as sandstone in public space design, creating synergy with nature to regain 'natural' elements and bring back a connection to ‘nature’ for those in communities impacted by urban development.
“Places and spaces for us just to visit and ‘be’ are necessary, not just desired for.”
Sandstone And Environmental Sustainability
Sandstone is a strong contender as a natural material choice in civil design when it comes to park and land management, particularly where there are water courses, waterways and other diversifications within the demarcation of public spaces and natural, protected and conserved land. This is because Sandstone also lends itself to environmental protection, providing spaces for wildlife to thrive in the crevices of filtration material in waterways, estuaries, creeks and rivers when used as VENM material in causeway management.
You can read about Gosford Quarries’ Environmental Sustainability initiatives here.
Sandstone And Natural Water Courses In Civil Landscaping Design
Macquarie University Creek and Outdoor Landscaping - Custom Sawn Landscaping Blocks, Kurrajong Cream Sandstone Colour Range and Civil Materials - GJ Landscape, Installer
Crushed and graded sandstone rock armour, rip-rap, logs for erosion prevention and also the natural ability for the rock to act as a filtration system all champion this natural stone material for civil and landscaping use by councils and park projects where environmental protection is paramount.
Of course, it goes without saying that budget spend on sandstone brings with it the durability and long-lasting, timeless quality of sandstone, let alone its aesthetic and sustainable qualities and features.
Our VENM (Virgin Excavated Natural Material) article on this platform is located here for reference as well if you are interested in Civil and Landscaping applications with this Council specified, natural stone resource supplied by Gosford Quarries.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Gosford Quarries Sandstone In Landscaping?
No matter the scope and size of park projects and national reserve projects, Gosford Quarries is able to supply raw, quarried and higher-grade sandstone products (including sandstone rocks) at all levels of budget and in all sizes of supply.
Our capabilities as Australia’s largest sandstone suppliers with the greatest variety of sandstone products, sandstone colour ranges, sandstone finishes and applications in the country is second to none.
We also have experts who have extensive experience in civil and landscaping projects, from small to the largest scale in NSW, Melbourne and Brisbane. We have an in-house project management team and also can support Tender Applications and help you to properly specify and quantify the sandstone supply you may need for your envisioned landscaping projects.
Gosford Quarries can also advise on the appropriateness of different sandstone products, their application and suitability of use, both structurally in design concept and methodology, and installation at location. We assist landscape architects with trouble-shooting and ideas to be able to marry form and function in their design vision, while achieving a practical, solid product installed in-situ.
Our sandstone is tested to comply with all of the Blacktown Council specs when it comes to civil supply, and generally, our sandstone is tested to meet the highest quality standards and fulfil standards set for our industry to ensure a consistent grade and uniformity of quality in sandstone products supplied.
Architects, landscape architects, builders and councils put their trust in Gosford Quarries for supplying sandstone products to Parks & Recreation, public spaces and buildings because they have peace of mind with the quality of the materials, capabilities of our facilities and technology and efficiency of the Gosford Quarries Team.
A version of this article can be seen at Outdoor Design Source here.