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Architecture enthusiasts and infrastructure fans, we’ve got news. The Melbourne train station known as the first station in the state with a rooftop garden (and a sympathetically-designed forecourt, curated to complement protected land) has just won big in a national architecture awards competition. Deer Park Station, which sits along the Ararat and Warrnambool lines, won in the 2025 National Landscape Architecture Awards’ Infrastructure category – here’s what we know about the forward-thinking space.
The project was completed by architects Hassell in 2023, as part of the Mt Derrimut Road level crossing removal. Hassell collaborated with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation Elders Aunty Gail Smith and Aunty Julieanne Axford to create the station’s forecourt, which sits next to a protected area.
Together, they created a space that complemented the protected area, home to remnant grasslands and a habitat for local fauna. The resulting design is based on the ‘layers of Country’, a set of stories told by the Elders that recognise Bunjil the Great Creator Spirit, usually depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle, as the creator of all layers of Country.
“The Deer Park Station landscape works demonstrate the design team’s commitment to protecting and regenerating Country through engagement with community,” the award jury wrote. “The team’s approach to integrated cultural references in the design brings an added dimension to the outcome, allowing stories of the place to be shared with commuters.”
As mentioned above, Deer Park Station features Victoria’s first rooftop garden on a station, a beautiful space filled with a mix of native plants. Aside from adding a pop of colour to the concrete area, the plants also add to biodiversity, reduce the heat island effect of the station and nearby structures, absorb stormwater run-off and generally improve water quality. The garden’s plants are part of more than 50,000 new trees, shrubs and grasses planted on and around the station – that’s a lot for a space that’s typically just formed from steel, concrete and the occasional colourful poster. Three boulders, each weighing between seven and 10 tonnes, stand tall on the garden – representing the surrounding You Yangs, Mt Disappointment, and Mt Macedon, peaks, which have traditionally acted as navigation landmarks in Indigenous creation stories.
“Across the board, projects enriched by First Nations collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking exemplify how landscape architects are shaping resilient, climate-conscious places that reflect a deeper understanding of Country and community,” said jury chair Kate Luckraft.
The 2025 National Landscape Architecture Awards awarded 36 projects across 17 categories. Other Victorian winners included the Prahan Skatepark and Basketball Court, Melton Botanic Garden Nature Playspace and Richmond High School. You can check out the full list of winners over here.
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