Add To Collection

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Add To Collection

Other Projects by Cumulus Studio

Add To Collection

ERA Planning & Environment office

Add To Collection

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Firm

Cumulus Studio

Type

Hospitality + Sport › Information Center
Cultural › Cultural Center

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2020

SIZE

10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre
Tasmania, Australia

Sharp geometric forms beckon to a honeyed cave

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre is a building of contrasts. It’s imposing but harmonious. It’s an abstract interpretation of nature. And it’s modern with a rightness unrooted in time. Most surprising of all, perhaps, is how the raw exterior unwinds into a warm, soft, delicate timber lining.

With wild rainforests, rolling grasslands and roaming Tassie Devils, it's no surprise Cradle Mountain entices a surging number of visitors. But how can you design a meaningful visitor experience in a footprint never intended to accommodate that number of guests? The Visitor Centre is the first development in a major plan to reimagine the iconic Cradle Mountain experience.

The Visitor Centre offers a warm alpine welcome to reflect both the sense of rugged-up anticipation on arrival and the distinctive Cradle Mountain geology. The sculptural, wilderness-inspired development includes an orientation building, commercial services base, shuttle bus shelter and coach transit centre. At every turn, we aimed to honour the significance and sensitivity of this world-renowned national park.

Materials to mirror nature

We designed the buildings to feel grounded, as if carved from a solid rock by a glacier. The umbrella rain-screen form references the folding angular geology of the site, inviting visitors into the cave-like timber interior.
The choice of timber for the interior was about the poetics and qualities of the place. Because timber is natural, guests feel connected to nature. It often evokes a response other materials don’t.

Measured tourists footprints

The design required an in-depth understanding of visitor movements across the site. It needed to accommodate the wide gap between peak and average visitor numbers and feel inviting in both cases.

Our intuitive way-finding strategy creates a flow to subtly guide visitors while they interact with site interpretation and visitor information. We used a hierarchy of space that organises services but lets the staggering natural setting sing out.

No mountain high enough

The Visitor Centre design went through many iterations as more stakeholders saw the project’s potential. But we’re proud the essence and guiding goals remained constant throughout, even as other aspects shifted around them. It’s quite a feeling to walk inside the sculpted interior timber cave, a completely unexpected gem inside the building. Whilst the triangulated timber volume’s complex geometry proved a technical challenge, it’s all the more satisfying to admire it now knowing the hard work involved.

Product Spec Sheet

Were your products used?

Join as a manufacturer to add your products.

Collaborating Firms

Was your firm involved? Add it now.

Team

Elizabeth Walsh

Design Architect

Peter Walker

Director

Were you involved? Add yourself.

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Other Projects by Cumulus Studio

Dove Lake Viewing Shelter

Callington Mill Distillery

Oak Rise Housing

Kokoda Drive

Queens Walk Housing

Riverstone

Devil's Corner Cellar Door

New Town Medical Suite

Hill House

ERA Planning & Environment office

Darkwood Residence

Goulburn Street Housing

Hotel Verge

Stoney Rise Cellar Door

Midway Point House

Symmons Plains

Shearwater

Stillwater Seven

The Protagonist

Bear With Me

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

Keep Exploring Architizer by Creating a Free Account or Logging in.

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Other Projects by Cumulus Studio

Dove Lake Viewing Shelter

Callington Mill Distillery

Oak Rise Housing

Kokoda Drive

Queens Walk Housing

Riverstone

Devil's Corner Cellar Door

New Town Medical Suite

Hill House

ERA Planning & Environment office

Darkwood Residence

Goulburn Street Housing

Hotel Verge

Stoney Rise Cellar Door

Midway Point House

Symmons Plains

Shearwater

Stillwater Seven

The Protagonist

Bear With Me

Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre

TAS, Australia

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team