Project Highlight | Water Gum Infant Memorial Court
Revitalising Cemetery Land through Urban Design, Placemaking, and Everyday Integration
The Water Gum Burial Section at Altona Memorial Park (AMP) redefines the role of the civic cemetery in the contemporary urban fabric. Designed as a masterplanned precinct with a sculptural central focus, this project activates a previously underutilised area into a layered, accessible, and emotionally responsive memorial landscape. More than a burial ground, Water Gum is envisioned as an active urban space—supporting daily visitation, quiet reflection, public use, and long-term cultural memory.
Set adjacent to the River Red Gum Precinct (RRGP) monument and wetlands, the layout balances ceremonial dignity with spatial openness. Curving lawn plots are organised around a formalised memorial court and public sculpture, while axial pathways support movement, visual connection, and seasonal use. The masterplan includes areas for infant and child memorialisation, linking to broader strategies of care, remembrance, and intergenerational inclusion.
Services Delivered:
- Integrated masterplan for urban-scale memorial space and interment infrastructure.
- Urban design strategy blending monumental centrepieces with functional grave geometry.
- Pedestrian-oriented path networks radiating from a central sculpture and court.
- Place-based planting strategy with deciduous colour shifts, canopy rhythm, and habitat value.
- Infant and child memorial zones that offer sensitivity, scale, and family-centred interaction.
- Activation of cemetery edges through parking, circular gathering nodes, and tree-lined buffers.
- Visual and spatial continuity with RRGP monument, wetlands, and entry mounds.
- Interpretation of cemetery as part of everyday civic life, not an isolated zone of grief.
Project Overview:
Water Gum represents a new generation of cemetery design—one that sees burial land as part of a living city. Rather than hiding the cemetery at its margins, this design positions it as a centrepiece of landscape infrastructure: spatially ordered, ecologically functional, and publicly accessible.
The radial geometry, anchored by a maternal sculpture, defines movement and meaning. Spaces between graves become places for pause, memory, or simply being. Landscape edges are softened through seasonal planting and native vegetation, while child-friendly courts and infant memorial elements offer compassion through design.
In harmony with the River Red Gum monument and nearby wetlands, the Water Gum section works as a contemporary civic landmark, not only for the deceased, but for the living. It invites new uses of cemetery land—daily walks, quiet play, shade under trees, or ritual gathering—repositioning AMP as a vibrant, shared part of Melbourne’s urban life.
Design: Hamed Tavakoli (Meso Space)
Site: Altona Memorial Park – Water Gum Section (GMCT)Year: 2024–2027 (Masterplanning and Construction Phase)
