Grampians VIC
Australia
Overview
The collaboration between McGregor Coxall and Noxon Giffen Architects culminated in a unique visitor experience, curating the various contexts, histories, and conditions at all ten locations along the trail.
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Structure
Prefabricated structural timber modules allowed for remote construction. This was beneficial both to creating an accurate and quality result during construction, but also for minimising disturbance to the sensitive landscape. The finished modules could be delicately placed on site in days rather than a team of workers spending months on site. A variety of cladding options utilised timber in differing ways, thereby creating a variety of shelter designs responding to the nature of each campsite. The structures are elemental, raw, and enduring, over time they will weather and age, thereby becoming part of the unique Grampians (Gariwerd) country.
The use of blackbutt timber for the cladding in the GPT Stage 2 hiker shelters, camp huts, and amenities was due to timbers high strength to weight ratio, durability in its natural form, and ability to create prefabricated modules. These factors were important to the design as due to the site’s remote locations and extreme weather conditions; materials were often helicopter lifted to site and where ongoing maintenance would be limited.
Unliked traditional enclosed wall framing, where less-durable softwood is used , the exposed hiker hut frames are built from blackbutt hardwood wall framing. 140x45mm wall studs, 90x45mm noggins and 190x45 purlins were used.
Blackbutt 32mm decking was used, with oversized board spacing for subfloor ventilation.
Exterior
Rough sawn faced timber was used to marry more closely with the rugged environment of Gariwerd. Rough sawn timber is a more cost effective timber, as it is not fully 'dressed', or sanded smooth. The result is a rougher, but often more characterful timber.
