Commissioned by the Sunshine Coast Council's Place Making Team, the tasks were creatively directing and designing the Sunshine Coast Design Manual, a visionary guide to encourage and foster good design across the urban, developmental, and architectural landscape of the region. The brief was clear: create a design bible that would inspire architects, builders, and developers, uniting them towards a common goal of design excellence. This manual goes beyond a dry technical guide; it places place and landscape at the heart of the conversation about the region's growth. It introduces a new era of place-based decision-making, with a focus on community and landscape. The project has been widely celebrated for its innovative approach and has received national recognition, including an AILA Award for Research, Policy & Communications and a prestigious National Good Design Gold Award.

The Sunshine Coast Design Manual has had a significant impact, reaching hundreds of thousands across the region. It has been featured in over 20 major publications, including Architecture AU, Habitus, and Monocle. A dedicated website offers both a digital version and an online series of videos further explaining the design principles. These resources have been shared across media channels and presented at prominent industry events such as the MET Design Series, PIA Virtual Conference, and AILA 2020 Land-E-Scape Reset.

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"The Sunshine Coast Design Strategy establishes a simple set of design principles to guide a new era of place-based decision making in a fast-growing region. Far from being a dry technical guide or a ubiquitous "vision", this work puts place and landscape at the centre of the dialogue concerning how the Sunshine Coast will grow well. The communication methods and advocacy built into this project signal an exciting new direction for landscape architects as advocates for place-led design within our communities, Australia wide." - Landscape Architecture Awards Jury Citation

‍AILA Award
Gold Award.

Digital Version of the book is available here: link