A spillway construction designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakao and Monash University architecture students will be built in the Grampians region of Victoria to address past flooding issues.
As the current Monash artist-in-residence, Mr Nakao will work with 20 Monash students and engineers from the Northern Grampians Shire to construct a spillway at the picturesque Cato Lake in Stawell.
The collaboration came about after the lake flooded in January 2011, causing significant damage to the adjacent Stawell Bowling Club and nearby businesses.
The spillway, part of the student’s annual Design – Make studio, will become a practical yet sculptural feature of the picturesque and highly valued Community Park.
The initiative gives students exposure to living and working in regional Victoria while contributing to community development and applying their skills in design and innovation.
Nakao and the students will design and build a combined overflow and walkway structure over the spillway, with the design retaining the fully accessible walking track circuit around the lake. The project will use local Krause bricks in an innovative design.
Students conducted the first site visit in August with Nakao and their joint studio leader, Professor Nigel Bertram, from the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture. The students sketched the area, took photos and studied the lie of the land.
Bertram said each year Monash Architecture runs a Design – Make studio where students design and then make a small built project in a group under the guidance of a visiting architect or artist.
“Monash Architecture is very interested in researching how design thinking can be put to use in regional and rural areas in innovative ways, and this landscape/infrastructure project in Stawell was an ideal project,” Bertram said.
“In the past we have used wood in our construction and this year we wanted to focus on the use of brick.
“We are very grateful to Krause Bricks, the Council and the Stawell community for the opportunity to provide this great educational experience to our students, and we are very much looking forward to starting construction.”
Once the underlying structural component of the spillway is completed, the students will stay in Stawell for four weeks to construct their section of the design.
The project was officially launched at Monash University earlier this month where a temporary installation was erected as a precursor to the larger project at Cato Lake.
The project was officially launched at Monash University earlier this month where a temporary installation was erected as a precursor to the larger project at Cato Lake.
