Each year the festival sees over 1000 entries of a range of projects from across the world.
This year 187 projects have been shortlisted from 40 countries, including the Mon Repos Turtle Centre by KIRK.
All shortlisted projects will be presented live in Lisbon before a panel of festival judges and delegates representing over 48 different countries.
This is a great opportunity to showcase design that is a sensitive response to the Queensland context and climate, as well as the innovative craftmanship of sustainable materials by local manufacturers, on a global stage.
The search for an authentic site response in the building form, spatial experience and materiality with a deliberate focus on the circumstance of place and purpose makes the project a truly unique work and KIRK is pleased to present the project later this year at the 2021 World Architecture Festival.
Situated within the sensitive beach environs of the Great Barrier Reef Conservation Park, the small-scaled research and interpretive facility is one of the most important turtle nesting grounds in Australia.
The Centre hosts key research into the endangered loggerhead turtle and the impacts of climate change for more than 40 years.
In response to the harsh coastal climate and sensitive wildlife surrounds, the building was primarily constructed using prefabricated, locally-sourced and manufactured Glulam timber.
The diagrid superstructure and external copper folded cladding panels are design to withstand the corrosive sea air and seasonal cyclones for a lifespan in excess of 40 years.
The building skin will develop a patina over time along with its surrounding landscape immersing itself into relatively non-descript landscape of grassy, dune forms and trees, ensuring it is a demure addition to this sensitive and ancient home to the turtles who travel around the world to nest each year in the same place.
See the full feature of the KIRK designed Mon Repos Turtle Centre shortlisted on the WAF website on our Awards & Publications Page.
