A HYPOTHETICAL Australian capital city based in the Kimberley, designed by North Fremantle architecture firm Ecoscape, has taken out first prize in the Capithetical international urban design competition.

Following in the footsteps of American architect Walter Burley Griffin, entrants from 24 countries submitted 114 designs as part of Canberra’s centenary year.

The judges said Ecoscape’s “parallel city” showed a clarity of vision by suggesting two capitals—Canberra and a northern city at Lake Argyle in the Kimberley.

Drawing on sustainability and renewable energy, Ecoscape’s Kimberley-based capital has a population of 200,000 living off multi-storey vertical farms where food is grown on the sides of buildings and skyscrapers (http://www.inspirationgreen.com/vertical-farms.html).

Ecoscape’s designs (http://www.ecoscape.com.au) also draw on cultural integration such as Australia’s role in Asia and Aboriginal culture.

David Kaesehagen, who founded Ecoscape in 1989, told the Herald it was a great win for the nine-member design team which will share the $70,000 prize.

“We didn’t extinguish Canberra,” he says. “It was based on models used in other countries with two to three capital cities.”

The northern capital includes a second federal government administration centre and defence establishment, and is built on a knowledge-based economy drawing on science and high-tech sustainable food production for the Asian region.

He says about 500,000 people live in northern Australia, stretching from Exmouth on the west to Cairns in the east: “That’s less than three per cent of Australia’s population,” he says. “Twice as many [Australians] live overseas than in northern Australia.”

Mr Kaesehagen says the northern capital design is also about Australia’s growing relationships with Asia and recognising the role of Aboriginal culture.

by CARMELO AMALFI