CHELSEA TELFORD
OTWAY OBSERVATIONAL TRIAD - QUARRY STUDIO
The Quarry site is located just outside of the township of Beech Forest, Colac Victoria. Over 200km out of Melbourne CBD, The population of Beech forest is only 83 people. It is an area of extreme rainfall, has repetitively been impacted bushfires throughout the Otway Rangers therefore, emergency being a key theme to address. The Quarry is 86,000 SQM and made of Sandstone. The area is no longer used and therefore the space has been dedicated to creative practice.
The distinct site has led me to be focused on water conditions on-site, including the natural springs with an interest in how the quarry can play a role in the emergency response to bushfires at a local and regional scale. The unique conditions, views, and qualities of the site should be celebrated and highlighted within the final design.
Scale 1:35,000
Scale 1:600
Scale 1:250
Scale 1:35,000
Scale 1:600
Scale 1:250
Scale 1:35,000
Scale 1:600
Scale 1:250
Scale 1:35,000
Scale 1:600
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INITIAL PLATFORM
Initial project designing a series of platforms and spaces which form a journey and connective experience. The issue identified is the absence of a facility, to encourage the use of the natural springs onsite and for during an emergency. A bathhouse facility by the natural springs responds to this issue whilst also providing beech forest with a new way of interacting as a community. This facility would also be used in the time of bush fires as shelter and amenities by the water. The design is based around the traditional steps of ritual bathing including the senses and incorporating socialization.
I am proposing a series of fire towers that form a network within local communities of the Otway Ranges. The location of the towers would be as follows…
The Quarry (Beech Forest), West Barwon Reservoir (Forest), Gellibrand River (Gellibrand)
The fire towers are occupied day-to-day with the programmatic function of observation lookouts. The lower levels frame specific and unique conditions at the quarry site to amplify and encourage occupants to appreciate the surroundings, amplifying, and highlighting these considered views. These 3 towns have been frequently exposed to historic fires and were specifically devastated during the 1939 black Friday bush fires, and the surrounding south of the shire are at more risk. The towers will allow these small towns to operate as a triad, forming one community during an emergency.
The three towers should be constructed simultaneously as one project within a 2-year time frame and would operate over a time frame of 50 years, however, it may be redeveloped extending its use for another 20 years. Visiting the framed lookout’s overtime will gradually reveal the changes in time (long periods) on-site, as well as nuanced short-term conditional changes. at each different site, the framing of views alters in response to the environment. similarly, the height of the towers varies, as their position within the landscape and their ground-level changes. This is done to ensure that the Beech Forest tower located at the quarry can continuously see and observe the other two towers as a way of communicating during an emergency.
At the Quarry site which I explored in more detail, the tower on level -2 frames the textural ground condition from the process of quarries reveling history of site. level -1 frames a view into the inner face of the quarry walls, ground floor views the unique springs. level 1 frames lower vegetation, level 2 frames the top of vegetation, and level 3 frames the sky condition. the experience of continuing up and down the tower explores the conditions at different angles and heights, without the observation tower the unique qualities of the site would go unnoticed.
FIRE TOWER PROJECT - OTWAY TRIAD
