2023 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Contour3D collaborates with Inge Jabara, on her landscape design show garden, ‘Lunaria Pods’ at the Melbourne Garden show

Hours to build

Tonnes of Contourcrete™

Pod height (metres)

Contour3D have collaborated with Inge Jabara Landscapes to create ‘Lunaria Pods’, part of the landscape design show gardens at the 2023 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS or Melbourne Garden Show).

About the design: Melbourne Garden Show

Inge Jabara landscape design draws inspiration from translucent pods of the Lunaria plant. In essence, she was inspired by the way they light reflects within the seed pod, similarly how light reflects within a home.

“Looking at the lunaria seed pod, I was inspired by its lovely shape as an individual pod but also as a branch of pods. The translucently of them was also inspiring the thought of letting the light to where the seed is held reminds me of letting light into a home. It then inspired me to create this theatrical and futuristic show garden that from above carries the same branch-like shapes with pods at the end of each point”, Inge Jabara, Inge Jabara Landscapes – design entry to the Melbourne Garden Show.

In essence, this MIFGS show garden represents the future of a new community and how Contour3D (3D concrete printing) can contribute to the future of building and manufacturing. By printing structures, we will produce almost zero construction waste with greater design possibilities, future proofing the way we create communities.

Within Inge Jabara’s show garden, Opus One, our dynamic mobile gantry system, printed two ‘pods’ and the BBQ bench. The pods reach 2.4 metres high and are load bearing to support a garden top roof. They represent the future of living and how we can connect to the land by designing buildings fit for purpose. In addition, the BBQ bench, a unique addition to the Melbourne Garden Show, was printed using the basket weave design. Each layer is perfectly offset, demonstrating how 3D concrete printing can give you complete design freedom, compared to traditional building. Moreover, our parametric design software and complex tool path slicer works in harmony with our printer and ContourCrete material to make this magic happen.

The print process

Using Opus One, the pods and BBQ bench were printed in the factory over a period of 10 hours. Due to the garden’s location and time constraints, the factory was the obvious choice in this instance. Furthermore, to transport from our Sydney factory to the Melbourne Garden Show, our team filled the both pods with expanding polyurethane and attached lifting hooks within each wall cavity. As a result, this ensured safe travel to the show and the ability to crane each pod into position on site.

In conclusion, Inge Jabara’s Melbourne Garden Show entry represents how future communities can live in a sustainable way, by printing each pod as the community grows. Furthermore, a futuristic green space that is connected by pathways and nestled in a green woodland to revitalise human’s connection with nature. Using the latest 3D printing technology, advanced robotics, material science and software, Contour3D will evolve the traditional building industry to create the future of our communities.

“The word ‘pod’ invokes a question, what if we created a living space that was inspired from the living environment? ‘Lunaria Pods’ was born. This futuristic green living space has traditional elements such as cooking, dining, sitting and reflection connected by pathways all while being nestled within a green woodland. You can imagine how this pod community would expand as it would be a continuation of the branch and pod structures to create a larger fabric of community.”, Inge Jabara, Inge Jabara Landscapes.

Where to find

Inge Jabara landscape designer show garden was held at the 2023 Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show in the Carlton Gardens from 29 March – 2 April 2023. You can now watch the Melbourne Garden Show highlights on Better Homes and Gardens.