2022 AA Prize for Unbuilt Work – Honourable Mention

Jury citation

This project cleverly addresses two issues. First, it confronts the subject of climate change through a design proposal that invites observation and discussion of its seemingly inevitable effects over time, and its impact if we do not act. Second, it connects Hobart, the base of the Australian Antarctic fleet and a centre for polar research, to our southern territory of Antarctica by proposing a public interpretive centre for Tasmania’s Antarctic heritage.

The proposal is vibrant, adventurous and unusual. Coupled to a movement called Design Now or Swim Later, it provides a platform for progressive awareness of the spectre of rising ocean levels in Hobart. Over a period of 90 years, a number of the project’s buildings will rise with the water and can be towed away to be used again in another location. A partly bunded plaza, made of precast undulating platforms and ramps, anchors the buildings to the shore and will, presumably, progressively disappear while the community adjusts to this creeping change.

The jury felt that in this prominent locale at the Hobart harbourfront, where many of the city’s large public events and celebrations take place, A Rare Relation would make a good – if confronting – neighbour.

Architect’s description

A Rare Relation (2019) was briefed as an interpretation centre for the Antarctic heritage of Tasmania. The centre serves to raise awareness of past, present and future relationships between Hobart (Tasmania) and Antarctica. Located at the Hobart harbourfront, the centre is adjacent to the docking location of Australia’s icebreaker, the Aurora Australis , and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).

Upon entry to the centre, visitors are encouraged to reflect on the past as they move through spaces that evoke the emotions of early Antarctic explorers as they left Tasmania (1911) and travelled on long voyages through the southernmost continent.

The present responds to the Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy (2017), which aims to strengthen Tasmania’s position as the world’s Antarctic gateway of choice, by providing facilities, a lecture theatre, residential apartments and workshop areas to service the Antarctic scientific and artistic communities.

The future relationship between Antarctica and Tasmania is overshadowed by climate change. By 2070, partly as a result of the melting of the Totten Glacier in East Antarctica, sea levels are predicted to rise by one metre. This will have a direct impact on Hobart’s waterfront.

A Rare Relation seeks to join IMAS in strengthening a community awareness of these extreme environmental changes. Six of the proposed buildings float on pontoons. In between these buildings, a static platform works as a transit area and public square. As the sea level rises, the platform will flood and transit between buildings will become more complicated.

The project’s image, comparing 2019 with 2070, has been circulated in Hobart as a propaganda poster. A Rare Relation speaks to the importance of architecture as beyond a physical form, painting a picture of the future to start important conversations.