| Macarthur Gardens Education & Display Centre |
| new public gallery // Macarthur Gardens, NSW // For Stockland Property Trust Images: : Ian Tatton and Eoghan Lewis |
| A temporary gallery designed to be disassembled, moved and reassembled on another site. By mid 2011 it will be transformed into an off the grid house in the Southern Highlands. |
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| The building is constructed from a kit of specially designed precast concrete elements made from three plywood molds. A second layer of steel frames bolts into the concrete, the steel clad in rough-sawn plywood. It was erected in two days with a further four weeks to fit out the interior. |
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| Inspired by Jørn Utzon’s
unbuilt Bayview House's of the 1960's, a ‘lego set’
or kit of parts was created, whereby the logic of a repeating structural
system (precast concrete) is the architetcure. Wherever possible the structure is revealed and explored for its sculptural and material qualities. Elements like the roof/gutters that tip water into the concrete awning, then down a rain chain and into tanks for reuse is a small metaphor of the sites hydrology that helps underscore the relationship of the building to the land. |
| Apart from concrete the other major material is timber.
Recycled blackbutt elements internally and ochre-stained rough-sawn plywood cladding externally. Notions of 'home' - moments of warmth and intimacy act as counterpoint to the cool gallery environment; limed hoop-pine and brushbox contrast and complement the cool rationality of the concrete structure. |
| For us the building acts as prototype
for a new approach to the issue of low-cost suburban housing. Our clients love it and version 1.1 in Melbourne is also finished. |
| Download project profile here (1MB) |
| ArchDaily link Architecture Australia link Architecture Review download (370KB) MIX Magazine download (630KB) Inhabitat Magazine - Prefab Friday link |
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