Last month, Penny and Hayley from our Landscape Architecture team attended Outlandish, the 2025 Australian Landscape Conference (ALC), held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The conference brought together a diverse mix of leading landscape designers, planting experts, ecologists, artists, and other specialists from Australia and abroad.
Presenters included UK gardener and writer Jonny Bruce, Arizona-based landscape architect Steve Martino, and Australian mycologist and author Dr Alison Pouliot. Unlike traditional institute conferences, Outlandish offered a refreshing alternative. The focus was on bold ideas, immersive travel experiences, and thought-provoking forums that challenged norms and re-energised practice.
Hayley, a Senior Landscape Architect, described the event with words like grounding, passion, intervention, materiality, diversity, reuse, and recycle. Reflecting on the experience, she said:
“We left feeling deeply inspired, and it reminded me of why we entered this profession.”
One session that stood out was by David Godshall, landscape architect at Los Angeles-based firm Terremoto. David shared the Test Plot project — a bold experiment in regenerative planting. His team identifies ecologically “dead” public open spaces and introduces subtle interventions that encourage natural regeneration. Over time, these spaces evolve into richly biodiverse habitats, inviting wildlife and fostering new ecologies. Often run by community volunteers, the project champions grassroots stewardship and challenges conventional ideas about the value of bushland.
Another highlight was a presentation by Sarah Price, a contemporary garden and landscape designer from Wales. Her poetic, fine art–informed approach to landscape resonated deeply with the team.
Hayley described her presentation as “Like a beautiful performance – full of emotion, rhythm, and connection.”
Sarah spoke about her collaborations with local artisans and her creative use of site-found materials. Her sensitivity to water flows and plant communities revealed how she uses nature as a co-designer, seamlessly shifting between macro and micro perspectives to inform her compositions.
After attending these energising and reflective sessions, the team returned with a renewed appreciation for the power of subtle interventions, the beauty of reuse, and the importance of balancing design aesthetics with ecological integrity in the landscape. As Hayley noted:
“Connecting with industry professionals and exchanging ideas encouraged me to explore how we can keep creativity alive in the face of routine.”
On reflection, her key takeaways were
- Plan for variance, not the mean.
- Understand where we live.
- Honour resilience and sustainability.
- Become attuned to the rhythms of place and season — with a long view.
If you’d like to connect and discuss a future project, we’d love to help! Get in Touch with Hayley or Penny.
