Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL) and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer (TZG) have won the Landscape of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) for their design of the National Arboretum in Canberra. TCL has now won the award for two years running, last year taking the top prize for its project the Australian Garden.

The Landscape of the Year award was awarded to TCL and TZG on 3 October at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The ceremony marked the culmination of WAF 2014 – the largest festival and live awards programme for the global architecture community, which ran over three days from 1-3 October.

The National Arboretum opened to the public on 2 February 2013 and was the centrepiece of Canberra’s 2013 centenary celebrations. It comprises 100 forests of the world’s most endangered tree species on a 250-hectare former fire ravaged site in the centre of Canberra. It is supported by a host of visitor, educational and research facilities including a 900-person visitor centre by TZG; a demonstration native garden, conservation and educational resource; tree and sculptural installations by renowned Australian artists, and a state-of-the-art children’s playground.

“Rather than a collection of individual trees as specimens, we wanted to create grand forests that offer unique and contrasting visitor experiences and hold a viable population to preserve vulnerable and endangered species,” said TCL Director, Perry Lethlean, of the Arboretum. “It is a strategy, a program and an ongoing event, not a design based chiefly on aesthetics.”

Read Philip Thalis’ review of the National Arboretum here.

The WAF win caps off a big week for TCL, who also won the Rosa Barba Landscape Prize in Barcelona with Wraight + Associates for the Auckland Waterfront.