Nestled within the architectural folds of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Red Note Courtyard is a small landscape with a resonant presence. Once a disused and overlooked space, it has been transformed into a rich outdoor room. Intimate in scale yet expansive in ambition, the courtyard now operates as a flexible stage for music, gathering, performance and pause.
Led by Taylor Cullity Lethlean in collaboration with Architectus Conrad Gargett, the project forms part of the broader refurbishment of the Conservatorium’s lower ground floor. From the outset, the design was shaped through close dialogue with performers, educators and university leadership.
At the heart of the design is a narrative drawn from music itself. The spatial composition is guided by the golden ratio, a mathematical principle fundamental to musical harmony. This logic subtly informs proportion, geometry and cadence, lending the courtyard a sense of balance and compositional clarity without overt expression.
Sheltered by the surrounding buildings, the courtyard receives only filtered light. This condition informed a restrained planting palette of native, low-light tolerant species, layered into the existing understory. Mature vegetation was retained, strengthening ecological continuity and supporting resident water dragons that have long inhabited the garden.
A light-touch approach shaped the project’s material strategy. Limited access and sensitive ground conditions encouraged extensive reuse and recycling of materials in situ, supplemented by low-impact, sustainably sourced elements. The courtyard reads as a palimpsest, revealing and enriching its past rather than replacing it.
Programmatically, Red Note Courtyard functions as an accessible outdoor performance space. An outdoor stage, updated decks and gathering areas support rehearsals, performances and informal use, allowing music to spill beyond internal studios. Acoustic sensitivity is embedded in the enclosure, materials and spatial form, enabling intimate, unamplified performance. As Professor Bernard Lanskey, Director of the Queensland Conservatorium, observed, “Red Note is beautiful and distinctive… the new spaces are truly fantastic and a great asset.”
More than a performance space, the courtyard offers a place to pause and relax within the heart of the Conservatorium. Awarded both the 2025 AILA Queensland and National Landscape Architecture Awards for Small Projects, Red Note Courtyard demonstrates how landscape architecture, at a modest scale, can meaningfully support education, ecology and the arts.
Data
Landscape architecture: T.C.L
Architecture: Architectus Conrad Gargett
Photo credits: Christopher Wardle
