The answer is not always a building
Koondrook is one of many small regional towns grappling with the transition from industrial and agricultural to serviced-based economies. While the challenge is obviously economic, it is also cultural as the community composition shifts and new means of socialising evolve. The answer was not necessarily a building, a visitor centre. TERROIR (with Hirst Projects) conducted a broad study into these issues as they manifest in the public realm and identified that the wharf was a place where investment in public infrastructure might be best made to address these issues.
The project subsequently consisted of a series of elements: a new jetty, spaces among the trees on the entry threshold to the jetty, a plaza on the land adjacent to the old wharf and some steps that explore the tidal zone. A connective tissue in the form of a timber platform gathers these elements together and weaves between the trees in the tidal zone. Key materials were sourced locally, including the redgum timber, cut and milled only a few kilometres from the site.
The work and attitude of the practice was exemplary from start to finish. Terroir were able to develop a trust-based relationship with Council, community and all stakeholders
Chris WhiteFormer Community Development Manager at Gannawarra Shire Council and Regional Development Victoria's Mallee Regional Partnership Coordinator"Instruments" Diagram
Components
Extensive community consultation revealed that the project needed to have two key functions: a chorographic one (access point for boats, experience of redgums at foreshore) and a psychospatial one (incorporation of the former wharf and exposition if its historical layers). Therefore, rather than propose a formal “visitor centre”, TERROIR created a series of unprogrammed spaces, an instrument that explores its site and provides place for different communities to come together on the river.
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