Project: MONA (Museum of Old and New Art)
Recipient: OCULUS
Client: MONA
Key Partners: Fender Katsalidis Architects, Architecture, Felicetti, Structural Engineering Lincolne Scott, Lighting, Jonathan Hearn, Landscape Design & Construction Hansen Yuncken Pty Ltd, Construction, Gandy & Roberts, Civil Engineering
Mediating between an existing topographically challenging site and a signature building that draws upon and extends modernist architectures at one with their landscape, Oculus has delivered a contemporary pleasure ground. These landscape sequences are simultaneously ‘grown’ from the site and draw from the museum of curiosity; visitors are given clues as to the varied experiences that await inside the buildings through a blend of humorous elements and elegantly detailed landscape structures.
Informed by a highly engaged client, Oculus’ response evokes allegory and experiment, plays with familiar forms and provides active spaces for visitor experience of the inner landscape of the Museum complex while providing views over the Derwent River and cultural landscape of outer Hobart. Their skilful use of materials and planting regimes provide tangibly artful gardens alongside dynamic public pathways that work with the topographical and management challenges that an important public institution requires.
The designed landscape provides multiple experiences for visitors through a deep understanding of the spatial sequences afforded by the site and by the curatorial possibilities offered by this most unique of museums, the MONA event.