Viewing platform provides immersive experience at Twelve Apostles site
A dramatic new lookout point designed by Tendestream member McGregor Coxall has opened along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. The viewing platform provides a safer, more accessible and improved immersive experience for visitors to fully experience the scale of the magnificent landscape, with views over surrounding coastal formations and the iconic 12 Apostles limestone stacks. The lookout - part of the area’s Shipwreck Coast Masterplan - was developed in close collaboration with fellow Tenderstream member ARUP, Simpsons Constructions & Surface Consulting, and the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation with Denton Corker Marshall.
The lookout elevates visitors above the cliff so they can experience the landscape’s scale and heightened drama. Located in Keerray Woorroong Country, the design expresses the resilience of the region’s broader Eastern Maar Nation. Comprised of two long rectangular sections, one resting on the terrain’s ‘saddle’ and the other cantilevered towards the horizon, the design momentarily conceals the coastline as visitors enter, before it is revealed as they continue further along. The lookout is connected to the existing path network and visitor centre by a new concrete path and boardwalk. The two “clapsticks” of the structure are the colours of ngayook (a sulphur crested cockatoo) and ponponpoorramook (a red-tailed black cockatoo), which are primary totemic species to the Eastern Maar peoples.
To protect the region’s fragile coastal environment and cultural assets, the lookout ensures that the landscape is protected while offering a rich and engaging experience. Drawing in over 2.6 million visitors per year, accessibility, shelter, and wayfinding were paramount, with the need to guide movement through intuitive design. The challenge was to incorporate a built form within such a sensitive natural environment, which necessitated an understanding of the site’s unique character, underlying geology, and cultural values.
Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research
This tender was first published by Tenderstream on 24.02.22 here
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