Overview
New York City has the High Line; Paris has the Promenade Plantée; Osaka has the glorious Namba Parks. In dense urban environments, it's always heartening to see green public spaces built on the bones of obsolete industry (both the High Line and Promenade Plantée are built along sections of disused elevated railway tracks). And now Melbourne has joined the list of 'cool urban metropolises who don't compromise on green space', all thanks to its very own elevated public park.
As first announced back in 2016, Melbourne Sky Park is a 2000-square-metre public park in the heart of the city, bordered by Collins and Flinders Streets (directly across from Southern Cross Station, with a nice view of the award-winning space slug rooftop). Launching in stages, with the first section welcoming visitors since October last year and the second still due for completion, it comes complete with a green lawn, a landscaped garden and built-in outdoor seating — plus wi-fi, power outlets and USB charge points.
With a name that pulls no punches, Sky Park adds a much-needed green space to the south end of the CBD, taking the city's solid rooftop culture and making it greener, bigger and — literally — more alive. For those keen to climb up, it's accessible during from Monday–Friday between 8am–6pm via a spiral staircase on Collins Street and glass lifts nearby.
A render of Sky Park's proposed final design.
The park has been designed as part of a joint venture by Aspect and Oculus studios on the principles of biophillia, which is a fancy way of saying the health and well-being value of public parks stem from the instinctive bond between humans and other living things. Basically, if it's green and alive, we're down with it.
Sky Park is part of a larger development, Lendlease's Melbourne Quarter, a brand new city precinct that includes new offices, homes, shops and hospitality spaces across an entire city block. Aiming to connect people with nature and improve liveability, the project unveiled its first building, One Melbourne Quarter, last year, with more to come.
Melbourne Quarter isn't just for residents or workers either. When it's complete, over half of the new 'hood will be free for the public to enjoy, with the Sky Park adding sorely needed open green space to the inner city. But it's not the only environmental addition. As well as Sky Park, Lendlease have also announced plans for a new laneway to connect Collins and Flinders Streets, a neighbourhood park and Melbourne Square, a public plaza which will be the most significant public space developed in the CBD since Federation Square in 2002.
Melbourne Sky Park is now open at One Melbourne Quarter, 699 Collins Street, Melbourne.