Exposed Ground

site is a collection of scales, programmes, actors, and ecologies that includes past imprints as well as future changes.     A. Kahn

A minimal intervention to trigger regeneration, the least possible to start the process…. the essence of urbanism.              A+P Smithson

The studio introduced students to art and architectural projects _ designing the site as a strategic part of the design process _ strategies of bringing landscape and architecture into relationship _an architecture that responds to change.

Project: the site was the remnants of a gold mine in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. The CDNHP is listed on the national heritage register with an application for inclusion on the world heritage register looming. It is significant as ­­­the site of the alluvial gold rush with many remnant buildings and infrastructure from the gold mining period still intact. The project required students to design a visitor centre as a way of ordering and organising access arrival and entry into the park. This will involve the design of several small buildings and landscape components to provide amenity for the diverse range of park users.