Mary’s Place, Dalby | Blight Rayner Architecture with Wild Studio

Mary’s Place is a celebration of both memory and place. It is a community square created in remembrance of Dalby’s most cherished hotel that burnt down in 2018, and its publican Mary Barry who for over 54 years devoted her lift to invigorating Dalby. The urban design of the L-shaped square is based upon notions of rebirth and regeneration, of the site itself after the fire, and of the land around Dalby when the rains revitalise the cracked dry earth. The plan is an abstraction of the cracked earth with the landscape species symbolising regeneration, such as Xanthorrhoea that local First Nations clans burn to revive them. This abstraction extends into the built forms – one supporting an outdoor cinema and concert venue, another a projector canopy, arbours drawing movement into the heart, and another an abstraction of Mary’s original bar. Mary’s Place unites community through both memory and hope.