Cradle Mountain, with its rugged forms and inviting wilderness, surrounds the iconic Dove Lake in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Australia. Projected out of the earth here, is Cumulus Studio’s Dove Lake Viewing Shelter, commissioned as part of a futuristic development plan by the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service. The new Dove Lake Viewing Shelter draws on the tones, textures, and history of its immediate context to become a part of this unique cultural and natural landscape.

Established in 2011, Cumulus is an architecture and interior design studio that creates unique, experiential spaces. This shelter, retained with the footprint of a former car park, also includes a new shuttle bus shelter, parking, bus turning circle as well as soon-to-be-finished boardwalk connections to the Dove Lake walking tracks and Glacier Rock viewing platform. “For us, it was important to balance a design that provided a universally accessible shelter, created a unique visitor experience, and had minimal impact on a delicate site,” explains project architect Luke Waldron in an official statement.

The shelter was designed to improve the visitor experience at the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park by providing all-weather protection to visitors. Intentionally set back from the edge of Dove Lake, its minimal profile mimics the surrounding crags. Conceived as a series of connected cave-like chambers, the minimally-lit interior draws visitors through a sequence of narrow corridors and strategic windows. These initially offer only glimpses of the landscape before dramatically revealing wide views of the lake and mountain in the main viewing hall.

The structure’s external concrete surface is grooved, to echo the geological patterns created through the glacial formation of the Cradle Valley while also promoting the growth of lichen over the concrete structure in the years to come, a means of giving the space back to the environment it is created in. Silent and unobtrusive, it offers visitors a safe space from which to take in the surroundings, without external decoration or ornamentation to distract. “It’s a contemplative space designed to mediate the external environment for visitors, not to remove them from it,” adds project architect and Cumulus Studio associate Edwina Brisbane.

Warm Tasmanian oak on seating, door handles, and handrails are moments of contrast built into the cool interiors. Deliberately void of decoration and furnishing, the exposed interiors focus the visitor’s attention and increase their awareness of their own impact on the surroundings. Light appears through ‘cracks’ at junctions between floor and walls, allowing the weather conditions to dictate the interior’s mood and visual tone. The internal courtyard within features local endemic plant species that have been specifically propagated. New interpretative signage allows a deeper connection to the landscape and the values of the TWWHA. Etched distinctly on one of the courtyard-facing walls are the words 'Always Was…Always Will Be’, acknowledging Australia’s indigenous past and the Aboriginal community’s continued connection to the Tasmanian landscape. “The design is a recognition of the importance of the First Nations’ history and cultures while encouraging people to take a longer-term view of the landscape that is much bigger than themselves,” mentions Cumulus Director Peter Walker in the press note. “Because the footprint of the new building is smaller than the original car park, there has also been an important regenerative aspect to the project,” adds Walker. Sited carefully to conceal Dove Lake on approach, the shelter’s reduced footprint allowed for the revegetation of the site’s previously disturbed areas with endemic local flora.

Mr Jason Jacobi, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service Deputy Secretary, summarises the project saying, “Designed by architects Cumulus along with design studio Futago, with cultural advice of Trawlwoolway man and curator Dave Mangenner Gough and built by Vos Construction, the building features a low profile, earthy colours, undercover seating and floor-to-ceiling glass panels to highlight the amazing views.” The result is an earthy yet discrete structure that encourages tourism to Dove Lake, a key destination within the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, one of Tasmania’s most visited landscape regions.

Project Details

Name: Dove Lake Viewing Shelter
Location: Cradle Mountain, Australia
Year of completion: 2022
Architects: Cumulus Studio: Peter Walker, Luke Waldron, Edwina Brisbane, Liz Walsh, Andrew Grimsdale, Rosella Sciurti, Chi Chee Goh, Jason Licht
Team:
Builder: Vos Construction and Joinery
Landscape Architects: Playstreet
Interpretation and Wayfinding: Futago
Town Planning and Community Consultation: ERA Planning and Environment
Structural, Hydraulic and Civil Engineering: Aldanmark
Mechanical and Fire Engineering: COVA
Electrical Engineering: pitt&sherry
Building Surveyor: Green Building Surveying
Lighting Design: Stantec
Acoustic Engineering: Noise Vibration Consulting (NVC)
Quantity Surveying: WT Partnership
Fire Engineering: Kojin Engineering
Access Consulting: Michael Small Consulting
Safety Consultants: Aware365