Trial Bay Cultural Center – Katoomba, Australia

This project was the result of an intensive two week studio in Australia with the Pritzker-Prize winning architect Glenn Murcutt. During the studio, my classmates and I stayed on Mr. Murcutt’s farm about 6 hours north of Sydney on the coast.  Designs were developed mostly through hand sketching and simple models, with daily crits from Mr. Murcutt (and nightly communal dinners where he would regale us with tales from his full life and career). 

The Trial Bay Cultural Center is located within a former gaol that now serves as a tourist destination along Australia’s east coast, north of Sydney. The Center is arranged along a new north-south axis, responding to the prevailing winds, solar orientation, and completing the third wing of the gaol.  The artists studios are at the north end of the axis outside the gaol walls, providing the artists the privacy and freedom they need to create. An amphitheater for performances occupies the south end of the axis, with the stage backed by the former solitary confinement cells. The main cell blocks are left intact as relics of the gaol’s history. And the gallery space, which is utilized by all the user groups, holds the center of the axis, in the former main hall of the gaol.