Location
Ben Lomond, Tasmania
Year
In Progress
Images
Cumulus
Team
Ben Lomond
Public Shelter
A welcoming all-weather refuge and community space, overlooking the alpine plateau of northern Tasmania’s Ben Lomond National Park.
Designed as a simple space for the local community and park visitors, the Ben Lomond Public Shelter is a practical response to the area’s striking landscape and unpredictable weather. Developed in collaboration with Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service and through local community consultation, our design frames views of the nearby ski fields, meadows, and crags through a series of sheltered indoor and outdoor spaces. The park’s rich natural environment is highlighted through the shelter’s blend of timber interiors and local artwork.
Light and dark rhythm
Reflecting the rhythm of the nearby dolerites, the shelter’s muted dark metal exterior settles the design into the landscape during the summer months while becoming a more distinctive feature of the snowfields in the winter.
The shelter’s design balances two protected outdoor areas, social spaces for visitors to dwell in and rest: the Green Deck, offering wide vistas over the plateau’s unique vegetation and peaks, and the Blue Deck’s alpine views of the ski fields and Legges Tor, Tasmania’s second highest peak. The main communal space is universally accessible and can accommodate up to 100 visitors.
Local artists Edge Atelier have created a site-specific installation that includes stylized topographic lines drawn across the ceiling and abstract photographs of the park’s flora to complement the shelter’s warm timber interiors.
A challenging setting
The combination of the shelter’s simple design, robust materials, and limited colour palette navigates the need for an accessible communal space that is practical, sensitive to the natural landscape, and can withstand intense weather conditions. In the winter, for example, the shelter’s angular form and splayed roof safely sheds the snow away from all entry points.
The modular aspects of the project meant that materials and prefabricated elements could be easily transported to the remote site during its construction.
BEN LOMOND
PUBLIC SHELTER
Stripped-back Georgian heritage and specialist stonemasonry.
A sympathetic restoration shaped by modern tastes.
Contrast and balance, tradition and modernity. Just what a family home needs. We responded to Symmons Plains’ significance in Tasmania’s history while curating a contemporary home for the new custodians - a family of seven.
We aimed to reveal the richness of the stories that came before. Colonist John Arndell Youl built Symmons Plains in 1839 with a structure crafted using early Australian settlement techniques. Youl famously introduced the brown trout to Australia. His family lived at Symmons for seven generations until it was bought in 2011. When we demolished the building’s original concrete, it revealed an eclectic mix of bed springs and old fencing added for reinforcement; a history of its own. It felt exciting to arrive at an answer for open, contemporary living within a building essentially the antithesis of that.
2020
Tasmanian Architecture Awards
Colorbond Steel Architecture - Commendation
2020
Tasmanian Architecture Awards
Residential Architecture
Location
Ben Lomond, Tasmania
Year
In Progress
Images
Cumulus
Light and dark rhythm
Reflecting the rhythm of the nearby dolerites, the shelter’s muted dark metal exterior settles the design into the landscape during the summer months while becoming a more distinctive feature of the snowfields in the winter.
The shelter’s design balances two protected outdoor areas, social spaces for visitors to dwell in and rest: the Green Deck, offering wide vistas over the plateau’s unique vegetation and peaks, and the Blue Deck’s alpine views of the ski fields and Legges Tor, Tasmania’s second highest peak. The main communal space is universally accessible and can accommodate up to 100 visitors.
Local artists Edge Atelier have created a site-specific installation that includes stylized topographic lines drawn across the ceiling and abstract photographs of the park’s flora to complement the shelter’s warm timber interiors.
A challenging setting
The combination of the shelter’s simple design, robust materials, and limited colour palette navigates the need for an accessible communal space that is practical, sensitive to the natural landscape, and can withstand intense weather conditions. In the winter, for example, the shelter’s angular form and splayed roof safely sheds the snow away from all entry points.
The modular aspects of the project meant that materials and prefabricated elements could be easily transported to the remote site during its construction.