Project Highlight | Emerald South Cemetery (ESC)
Place-Based Design in a Protected Valley Landscape
Set in a steep, ecologically sensitive valley within Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, the Emerald South Cemetery (ESC) represents a pioneering model of place-responsive memorial infrastructure. Designed under strict Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) protocols and environmental constraints—including habitat protection for the Gang-gang Cockatoo, an endangered species—the project delivers an elegant, low-impact response to burial capacity, ecological integrity, and community expectation.
The design integrates Water-Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), complex slope management, and accessible path networks, all shaped to accommodate steep terrain while minimising environmental disturbance. Carefully optimised retaining wall heights, stormwater filtration buffers, and passive circulation loops define the project’s spatial logic. The resulting site is a layered public landscape where memory, ecology, and civic function intersect.
Services Delivered:
- Site-responsive masterplanning for sloped memorial park in CHMP-designated area.
- Burial inventory strategy using terraced lawn and monumental graves with minimal cut-fill.
- Optimised retaining wall design to reduce visual impact and engineering footprint.
- Sustainable material selection aligned with soil health and slope performance.
- Integrated WSUD systems to prevent ocean-bound pollutants entering waterways.
- Tree protection, buffer zones, and no-go corridors for Gang-gang Cockatoo habitat.
- Passive surveillance, pedestrian paths, and DDA-compliant access across steep terrain.
- Public space amenities: viewing pavilions, rest zones, and sensory planting.
- Coordination with multiple ecological, heritage, and community stakeholders.
Project Overview
This project transforms a challenging greenfield site into a functional civic cemetery that acts as both a regional burial asset and a site of environmental stewardship. Rather than imposing a rigid grid onto complex topography, the ESC design embraces the contours—terracing plots in response to slope, light, and water flow.
Retaining walls are placed strategically to reduce bulk and follow landform, while filtered stormwater channels help capture runoff and mitigate erosion. Plantings prioritise indigenous and climate-adapted species, ensuring long-term ecological resilience and visual harmony.
The entire burial layout is softened by green corridors, canopy trees, and view lines that frame the surrounding valley.
Public access is enhanced through a looped circulation system that integrates car, pedestrian, and maintenance movement, while meeting DDA requirements on steep terrain. Interpretive signage and memorial nodes allow the cemetery to function as both a sacred place and a community green space, embodying a quiet, everyday dignity.
Design: Hamed Tavakoli (Meso Space)
Site: Emerald South Cemetery (ESC), Victoria (GMCT)
Year: 2024–2027 (Staged Construction Phase)
