We provide a totally unique end to end bespoke urban placemaking service. A methodology and process developed by us that allows us to partner with people designing urban environments to inject a detailed level of meaning and creativity into their projects. We recognise that this pursuit is often aspirational - landscape and urban projects often miss this level of detail. This is what POMO provides.
We research, engage, report and carry out all phases of design and project delivery - a unique beginning to end methodology. A process also flexible enough to mould to the demands and budgets of any public realm urban design project.
We have a seven step process that ensures we can work alongside you to help create meaningful, detailed, creative urban experiences.
We believe that creative outcomes in the public realm help make better places for us all. Places that are more connected to the environment and the culture in which they exist. Too many ‘off the shelf’ solutions infest our public places creating homogeneous places that suffer from what’s been called “placelessness”.
We recognise that the process of delivering creative outcomes that speak to and express the spirit of the place is often a difficult one. Curating and delivering public art is often complex and time consuming. Designing bespoke objects and experiences is often costly and sits outside of the scope of projects which are driven by deadlines and tight budgets.
We’re able to bring fine grained artist/designer created outcomes into projects without the typical constraints. We’re also able to curate bespoke outcomes in ways which tie in with typical timelines and budgets. We do this because we believe that our communities deserve places that are creative, unique, respond to the aspirations of the community and sit within the cultural and historical context of the areas in which they exist.
By partnering with landscape architects and other urban design professionals we focus on designing and delivering outcomes which are completely unique and deeply connected to place.
We do what we do because we believe that our public places are the foundations of more inclusive, aware and responsible societies.
Our projects have earned awards such as the Australia Institute of Landscape Architects 2018 Gold National Civic Design Award. In that same year our project also won the Civic Design Award of Excellence at the Queensland AILA awards. The project that won those awards you can read about here.
Other awards include gold and bronze at the international W3 awards.
The design of our POMO studio (which you can read about here) won the Most Sustainable Commercial Building Design Award (Sunshine Coast) at the 2015 at the BDAQ design awards. It went on to be judged by Kevin Mcleod for the national sustainability award later that year.
Stephen Burton
Founder + Design Director
Stephen is founder and design director of POMO having started the business in the late 90’s. Stephen has evolved the practice by focusing not just on the design of ‘things’ but on the design of experiences, in particular the process of generating connections between people and physical places. This has led to a focus on design and delivery projects that have a placemaking focus.
Stephen has an undergraduate degree in Arts (Media and Culture) and Law (Hons) and postgraduate qualifications in Urban Design and Planning. He has also studied Art History & Theory.
John
Senior Designer
John holds a Bachelor of the Built Environment (Architectural Studies) and a Graduate Diploma of Visual Arts (Graphic Design). John is a senior designer with a unique skill set that spans graphic, environmental and built environment design.
John’s background in architecture means he understands the built environment and how people experience spaces.
Nathan
Digital Developer
Nathan works to translate design into practice, using a logical approach to define the hidden structure and foundation of a digital project, working on the parts you don’t see in order to ensure the stability and usability of the parts you do.
He enjoys problem solving, regularly challenging himself with difficult puzzles and practicing logical thinking, his work consists of looking at the goals and expectations of a digital project, defining an efficient way to meet those criteria and then implementing it.
Nathan has a Certificate IV in Website Design and Development and a Bachelor of Interactive Media at QUT.
Awards
View our projects
USC & Sunshine Coast Council Co-lab Studio
USC & Sunshine Coast Council Co-lab Studio
In early 2019 the Sunshine Coast Council funded a cutting edge experimental design studio which was run as a capstone industry based subject for students at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Students were given the chance to work collaboratively with industry professionals to design something that would be built in a public place.