Australia is landscape. Its landscape of sky and horizon, of vast distances, and the openness between urban centers, makes practicing landscape architecture uniquely intriguing. ‘Sunburnt’ examines spatial and material qualities that define the Australian landscape through the lens of landscape architecture.

Contemporary landscape architectural design projects from the last ten years are positioned in relation to the canon of landscape architecture. The conceptual framework comprises three axes: iconic, emergent and provocative projects. These categories are intended to provoke discussion about different ways of thinking about landscape architectural practice and discourse in Australia, compared to both mythologies of the landscape and its particular urbanism.

SueAnne Ware is Associate Professor of landscape architecture at the School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University.  She is also Director of the Urban Liveability Program at the RMIT Design Research Institute.
Julian Raxworthy is a landscape architect and Senior Lecturer in landscape architecture at the School of Design, Queensland University of Technology. He is a regular contributor to Australian and international architectural and design media, including Landscape Architecture Australia, Topos and SCAPE.