By Architecture AND
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service's first hut-to-hut walk, creating a new type of wilderness experience for NSW.
Project team: Andrew Burns, Jordan Silver, Hannah Hill-Wade
ESD Consultant: Integreco
Quantity Surveyor: QS1
Access Consultant: Eric Martin and Associates
Services Engineer: COVA
Heritage Advisor: Heritage Design
Location: Beowa National Park, NSW
Year: 2019–Present
Client: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Land: Yuin
Size: 540 sq.m per site
The Light to Light walk project comprises NSW’s first hut-to-hut walk. The design includes accommodation at three precincts, Mowarry, Hegarty’s Bay and Green Cape Lighthouse, each site differing significantly in setting, vegetation type and connection to the dramatic coastline.
At Mowarry, the buildings are distributed around the edge of a native grassland, recessed into the surrounding vegetation. The buildings, comprising twin and bunk accommodation modules, a larger communal building, amenities and staff accommodation, are simple FC clad forms with an offset gable. At Hegarty’s Bay, the buildings are located within a heavily forested area, arranged in a looping configuration that captures a variety of outlooks and landscape conditions around the site.
At Green Cape, a series of Lightkeeper’s buildings will be converted to group accommodation, respecting the heritage values of the site while refreshing and bringing these spaces to life for a new generation.
The cladding is painted a range of colour tones, drawn from the surrounding landscape and enabling the buildings to blend into the background as a type of architectural camouflage. This responds to a key priority of NPWS, to make the buildings very discrete so as to not compromise the experience of any other visitor to the park.
Architecture that's second to nature AND design thinking to make cities work. Working across a breadth of natural and urban settings, our projects are materially rich and geometrically precise, with a deep sense of care underpinning all that we do.