The Melbourne studio rewilding cities through digital-driven landscape design

Something compelling is taking shape in the offices of Emergent Studios, the Melbourne-based landscape architecture practice. Here, creative collaboration between landscape architects and digital innovators is revealing an unexpected truth: that the best landscapes are never really finished.

‘There's a lack of control that we welcome as designers,’ says Sarah Hicks, the studio's design director. This insight stems from emergence theory – the idea that complex systems end up being more than the sum of their parts – which also gives the studio its moniker. ‘We see the role of emergence as being intrinsic to landscape design,’ Hicks says, explaining that landscapes evolve over time through growth, succession, and the interactions of other species, far beyond their original design and construction.

Meet Australia's Emergent Studios

Emergent’s six-person practice, led by founding directors Matt Hamilton, Niki Schwabe, and Hicks, has spent over a decade perfecting what they call 'all hands-on deck’ collaboration. Their bijou scale enables something relatively rare in landscape architecture: director input across all projects, from social housing developments to health and education facilities.

Crucially, at the heart of this approach lies a sophisticated digital toolkit that transforms how landscapes are analysed and documented. ‘We are a paperless office, starting all design work from digital hand drawing,' Hicks explains, describing the organic process of moving from initial sketches on digital tablets to technical modelling and complete documentation through specialised software. This mix of intuitive hand-drawing and computational precision reflects Emergent’s broader philosophy: embracing both the art of landscaping and cutting-edge technology. At a more granular level, Hicks says the studio’s work is ‘driven by the potential role of landscape to shape ecological biodiversity and social value in the built environment.’

The most striking expression of this approach is the Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence in Shepparton, which opened last August as an education and sporting facility honouring First Nations culture. Working alongside ARM Architecture, the studio created a landscape and building shaped entirely through co-design with Yorta Yorta community members – the traditional owners of this part of Australia.

The Munarra project showcases Emergent’s commitment to what Hicks calls ‘regenerative conditions’ – both ecologically and socially. The landscape features biodiverse plantings of species nominated by Yorta Yorta Elders for their cultural significance: Murnong (Yam Daisy), Garawun (Mat-rush), and indigenous wildflowers that create learning landscapes to be harvested for community workshops.

Equally transformative was Emergent’s breakthrough project in late 2023. The narrm ngarrgu Rooftop Terrace atop Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market library is an elevated civic space that demonstrates the studio’s ability to create biodiverse urban ecosystems that serve multiple communities at once. The design includes a ceremonial sand circle, interactive water play, and artwork by First Nations artist Maree Clarke that transform functional elements into sculptural play spaces. The wurru wurra outdoor terrace connects the bubup wilam Children's Library with family services to create a secure yet welcoming environment where indigenous plants are visited by native birds, marsupials, and butterflies above the market's bustling activity below.

Looking ahead, Hicks and her partners are busy scaling their digital innovations with the upcoming release of DOCOplant, a comprehensive planting tool featuring an authentication system and online plant database, which will be accessible by the broader industry. Meanwhile, they're deep into an ecological restoration project transforming a southeastern cattle farm back to swampy woodlands, whilst investigating how agricultural landscapes can regenerate around centuries-old River Red Gums. ’We need to see a growth of public investment in landscape architecture and its stewardship to address future challenges within the built environment,’ Hicks argues.

In a time of climate urgency, this approach suggests that the future of landscape lies not in control, but in collaboration with communities, Country, and the wild intelligence that emerges when we create spaces where life is allowed to grow, well, naturally. Luckily for us, practices like Emergent Studios are showing us exactly just how that future might take root.