Wollemi Art Farm
We are excited to be working for a family of adventurers with big plans for a stunning piece of land in the Wollemi National Park.
Wollemi Art Farm is envisioned to be a place where cultural, educational and environmental practices come to learn from each other. The long term vision is for many kinds of temporary occupation and engagement with the entire property. This would include: art & research residencies, design & build architecture camps, workshops, retreats, temporary art festivals, small music events, short term holiday rental and much more.
In order to support the wide range of activities we are starting by designing a central Hub. The Hub would provide a central node of practical infrastructure, a gathering place and a gateway to the site.
The building strategy recognises the iterative and incremental nature of the development. It seeks to set in place a framework that allows different choices to be made as the development is rolled out over the years, as budget becomes available.
A basic two-storey shell building is proposed as the basic module. It would be a modified steel shed, clad with zincalume steel sheeting and trims. North-facing for views and sun, with a shallow building depth for light, passive heating and cross ventilation. The planning within the shell is flexible, designed to potentially accomodate four different programs without requiring any external changes.
The shell provides a secure, dormant monolithic form when not in use. When people are around the roller shutters can roll up revealing a much softer set of open windows and doors. Other ‘soft’ infrastructure could fold out such as fabric awnings to shade the summer sun from the north, or external cane blinds to shade from the harsh western sun. Where the ground floor is used as a workshop there may not need to be secondary doors, functioning more as an open undercroft when the roller doors are raised.