Closing Statement
Proposition 6707 was the second in a new series of architectural ideas competitions developed by Architectural Review Australia. As an ‘ideas’ competition, the three shortlisted teams were selected on the basis that their approach represented three distinct and innovative architectural solutions, responding to a complex architectural challenge: to design an eco-resort for one of the world’s most fragile and beautiful landscapes, without threatening the very natural beauty the resort, and indeed WA tourism, depends on.
These three teams were selected from an initial Stage One group of over 40 submissions from all over Australia. Proposition 6707 submissions were invited from all registered architects, and the selection process was an anonymous one. In this respect a distinguishing feature of the competition is the manner in which emerging small architectural practices were able to compete evenly with the major national practices. As such, this architectural competition prioritised design strength over past successes and architectural reputation. In the end, our three shortlisted teams came from Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
Another distinguishing feature of this competition is the collaborative nature of the second stage, where the shortlisted teams got together with business stakeholders, local and state government and a range of competition advisers, to ensure the final designs did not emerge from a ‘bubble’, but were informed and enriched by an understanding of the commercial, environmental and political environment of such a design challenge.
By all accounts local response to the competition has been positive and a “People’s Choice” component of the competition resulted in healthy participation from the local community, with the Davis + Davis submission winning not only the jury second prize but also the People Choice prize.
I would like to congratulate Simon Anderson and his team for winning the First Prize award, and also thank Davis + Davis and Gall & Medek Architects for their commitment to this architectural journey. It was a journey not only in ideas, but also literally in their participation in site visits to Ningaloo Reef and workshops in Perth.
I would also like to thank all of the Stage One entrants, who committed considerable time and energy in responding to this brief. Indeed there were a lot of people who gave generously of their time to realise this competition. In particular the work of Geoffrey London from the Office of the Government Architect was critical in getting this competition off the ground. Along with his colleague Caroline Hickey, I would also like to thank those from WA Tourism, The Department of Environment and Conservation, Gascoyne Development Commission and Ningaloo Sustainable Development Office, who participated generously in the competition process. Finally I would especially like to thank the jury members for participating so fully in the competition process.
The end of Proposition 6707 is not however the end of the journey. It is now vital that those agencies and stakeholders who initiated this competition, and who contributed to its brief and its development through stages one and two, now take on board the learnings of the competition as a whole and build on the strengths of the winning design in particular.
The circumstance that gave rise to the competition – the threat to the natural environment by growing tourism in the region – has not gone away. The need to find sustainable tourism solutions, to help build this crucial part of the local economy, while also preserving the unique and natural beauty of the land, is urgent.
With this in mind I hope Proposition 6707 helps build momentum towards a sustainable tourism for the region, making full use of the great architectural and design skills that exist in Australia, which are uniquely placed to understand this country’s exceptional natural environment.
Andrew Mackenzie
Competition Registrar
Proposition 6707
Partner comment:
Proposition 6707 is the second in a series of annual design competitions offered by Architectural Review Australia that is aimed at promoting innovative thinking and critical investigation into key development opportunities around Australia. The challenging projects offer the chance for architects to demonstrate how design may contribute strategically to society.
Like the first competition, Proposition 6707 carries the postcode of its location, in this instance, the fragile and remote coastal environment of the Cape Range National Park near Exmouth in Western Australia.
Proposition 6707 was intended to test the architectural possibilities of a ‘world’s best practice’ eco lodge design that could satisfy the stringent development conditions required by the Ningaloo Coastal planning process.
It was to be a project that integrated the requirements of an eco-tourism accommodation proposal, specific to the region, with a demand for architectural excellence. It was also intended to provide a model with lessons for future tourism infrastructure developments in other remote and coastal areas of Australia.
A major objective of the competition was to generate a number of high quality design submissions to stimulate thinking about what is possible and, simultaneously, promote sustainable design principles appropriate to the setting.
The competition achieved all these ambitions and it is hoped that the outcomes will, at the very least, now form a point of reference for future development. The entries make it possible to visualise what is possible on such a tough site and should help cue a rich range of possibilities.
Geoffrey London
Government Architect
Office of the Government Architect
Western Australia
The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) manages over 25 million hectares of land and water with a range of tenures from State forest, national/marine parks and highly sensitive nature reserves. It manages these areas pursuant to the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 and conserves the value of these reserves for the enjoyment and appreciation of current and future generations.
Many of Western Australia’s iconic tourism experiences are located in areas managed by the DEC, and to meet legislative and community expectations there needs to be a balance between the protection of environmental and other values, and the use by visitors for recreation and tourism.
The DEC has approximately 30 commercial lease arrangements and 370 commercial operations licences that facilitate commercial tourism operations across the State. Most of the leases and some of the licences involve accommodation facilities of a permanent or semi permanent nature.
In cooperation with Tourism WA, the DEC has developed criteria for the development of accommodation facilities based on the principles of triple bottom line sustainability. These criteria assist in assessing development proposals by setting measurable Key Performance Indicators which are independently audited each year.
The Proposition 6707 design competition, while presenting some challenges to entrants because of the hypothetical nature of the site selection process, as well as the lack of some information that would normally be available to determine the scope of the development, was valuable to promote discussion about the problem of developing in such arid, remote and sometimes inhospitable conditions. As the implementation of the Ningaloo Coastal Strategy moves forward, these discussions will be important to ensure the balance between the protection of the environmental and social values of the area, and the expectations of visitors, is maintained. The DEC looks forward to being involved in these discussions.
Rod Quartermain
Tourism Branch Manager
Department Of Environment & Conservation
The Gascoyne Development Commission has been privileged to be involved in the eco-lodge competition, Proposition 6707 Ningaloo Reef. The idea for a competition process was born out of the Ningaloo Coast Regional Strategy where nodes on the Ningaloo Coast were identified as potentially being suitable for an ‘eco-lodge’ development.
The definition of an eco-lodge varied considerably between those involved in the process of developing the strategy, so it was suggested that an architectural competition would assist in defining a world’s best practice eco-lodge. The design needed to satisfy the stringent development conditions required by the Ningaloo Coast Strategy and could also be applied to other remote locations for tourism infrastructure development.
In partnership with the Government Architect, Geoffrey London, the GDC drew together the key Government agencies with a stake in such a process. Architectural Review were instrumental in bringing this competition to fruition through their second in a series of design competitions aimed at promoting innovative thinking regarding strategic development around Australia.
A site was identified within the Cape Range National Park near Exmouth on the Ningaloo coast and a brief developed. The response to the brief was fantastic, with 43 original entries. Through these, and the more detailed shortlisted submissions, we have hopefully gained an increased awareness within the architectural sector of some of the issues and challenges in designing tourism accommodation for an isolated and fragile part of the world.
The local community was involved in the process of selecting a ‘people’s choice’ which was well received and increased their understanding of some of the intent contained within the strategy for the Ningaloo Coast.
We now have some new approaches to design and the provision of services that are portable to other sites along the Ningaloo Coast and which have given us some definition as to what entails an ‘eco-lodge’.
Veronica Fleay
Deputy Chairman
Local Government Exmouth
Tourism Western Australia seeks to improve the quality of visitor experiences to match or exceed customer expectations. Fortunately, the State is blessed with an abundance of well-managed natural attractions. However, today’s consumers are very well travelled. They know very well the difference between good quality tourism products and those that are inferior. For the tourism industry, there is a strong link between product quality and profitability.
It is with these factors in mind that Tourism Western Australia sponsored the Proposition 6707 competition, a useful starting point in delivering quality tourism experiences in architectural design, more so when it comes to destinations like Ningaloo.
It was Tourism Western Australia’s expectation that Proposition 6707 would ‘flush out’ innovative design approaches. Cape Range and the fringing Ningaloo Reef were chosen not only because they have acknowledged natural beauty, but also because, from a tourism development point of view, they represent a very challenging environmental context.
The final three submissions – Gall & Medek, Davis + Davis, and Simon Anderson – all demonstrated capacity for an innovative design solution, while at the same time remain sensitive to the physical environment.
Tourism Western Australia maintains regular contact with investors and tourism developers both in Australia and abroad. The agency has a strong interest in the development of a low-impact tourism facility in an environmentally sensitive location. Proposition 6707 has demonstrated a capacity for encouraging the architectural community to think innovatively about the difficulties of remote area tourism development.
Simon Anderson, the eventual winner of the competition is to be commended and congratulated for his outstanding response.
Steve Crawford
Acting Executive Director
Tourism Western Australia
