Prunella Bui

Project Summary

Proposing a sports and recreational pavilion for the local community at Burns Beach, Western Australia. Designed under the Poetic school of thought, the idea focused on storing the tokens of Burns Beach and compiling them into the collective memory of the suburb.

The building acts as a container, holding the weight of these tokens and allowing us to encounter each moment of awe through a process of discovery; it is the unfurling of these tokens via movement throughout the project. The floor becomes a significant surface which binds these tokens together. At each turn the direction of the brick work changes; where one encounters and enters a new spatial token. Flushed mortar joints allow the multiple surfaces to bond and become one, defined only through their brick patterning.

Memory inexplicably attaches itself to a site, and in this project my goal was to orchestrate a place in which to form these memories. The site itself becomes a powerful poetic tool; the power of Mother Nature is a force that cannot be ignored, affecting multiple facets of the design. The way the building sits into the landscape is a direct response to the site; nestled in the dunes the building becomes rooted to the earth itself.

On site instances of cold and warmth are felt; walking through the building bathed in affectionate sunlight, the glowing feeling is suddenly shattered by a blast of wind from the ocean. One must seek their own comfort, be that heat or cool, light or dark.

The sun bathes the structure; it is the first to receive the embrace and the last to let go. By day the building becomes a receiver of light, by night a beacon which shines out to sea.