Noosa Visitor Information Centre by Bark Design Architects

There is nothing that tourists desire more than to feel welcomed by the community they are visiting, whether that experience takes place in a big city or a quiet, sleepy beachside area. That feeling was exactly what the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Tourism Noosa wished to establish with the new Noosa Visitor Information Centre, a building that needed to be flexible, inviting and in line with Noosa’s well-known green values and natural sense of place. With these thoughts in mind, Bark Design Architects delivered a building that clearly maintains an easily identifiable link with Noosa's essence, that of being thoroughly connected to the natural surrounding environment.

Esteemed throughout the country as a beautiful, natural haven away from the daily grind of everyday life, Noosa draws its character from its leafy surrounds. Any civic information centre would then need to take the shire’s emphasis on nature into consideration, alongside the numerous heritage listings that exist in the area. Influenced by Noosa’s bushland environs, project architects Lindy Atkin and Stephen Guthrie have created an organic-like oasis for the area’s guests to be greeted and set at ease.

Taking its design cues from the surrounding landscape, which includes several significant trees, the Noosa Visitor Information Centre extends the interior space into the public realm, offering ostensibly seamless links between inside and outside. Flanked by the larger Surf Club development on its northern side, the building still manages to collect light from the north, which filters through the building, naturally warming the inside even in the cold winter months.

In keeping with the theme of the natural environment, Bark Design Architects have constructed the centre around the central element of a leaf. The centre’s roof follows the contours of a single, simple leaf, whilst allowing light into the space and onto the footpath below with the roof reaching over the street, enabling a larger and more ambiguous arrival experience. The shape of the roof resembles those of the leaf form, by folding, undulating, sheltering and sculpting over the centre, and forms an inextricable link with the surrounding landscape. Combined with high-level glazing and glass, this enables visitors to see out through the roof, with views available to the underside of the tree canopy.

This transparency is reinforced by the 100% recyclable steel structure and extensive glazing throughout the building. The back-to-nature feel is completed with the inclusion of Australian hardwood joinery within, found from a number of different sources, including a demolished woolshed, and presented as a plantation- grown plywood acoustic ceiling and Queensland Spotted Gum hardwood chamferboard cladding.

Bark Design Architects make no secret of the fact that they are committed to environmentally sustainable practices, a guarantee which they have dutifully carried out in designing and constructing the Noosa Visitor Information Centre. This has been achieved through the implementation of natural cross-flow ventilation and ‘stack effect’ passive cooling strategies through the use of high louvers and wall fans. These inclusions reduce the reliance on air conditioning, thus saving on energy costs. Additionally, rainwater can be harvested from the oscillating roof surface, and then reused in both the Centre and neighbouring public amenities.

Focusing on a natural element in their design is something that Bark Design Architects are well-accustomed to delivering. The practice takes its name from the outermost layer, or skin, of stems, roots and trees, due to the belief that the role of bark and of architecture both commonly involve defining “the line between inside and out; to negotiate the relationship between the internal and external environment; to contain, protect [and] house”. Bark aims to integrate their buildings gracefully with the natural landscape, ensuring minimal environmental impact and maximum sustainability. This is achieved through a commitment to utilising natural light, passive ventilation, lightness and transparency.

This passion for the environment is demonstrated beautifully through the design of the Noosa Visitor Information Centre, which celebrates the best of Noosa through its varied natural  characteristics. Bark Design Architects have been able to manipulate dappled light and shadow through surrounding richly textured and lush foliage, creating the ultimate welcome-wagon for Noosa visitors. +

PHOTOGRAPHY Christopher Frederick Jones

1. Bark Design Architects’ design of the Noosa Visitor Information Centre easily identifies with Noosa’s essence of being thoroughly connected to the natural environment. 2. The building takes its design cues from the surrounding landscape, including several significant trees. 3. High level glazing and glass enables visitors to see out through the roof to the bushy surrounds. 4. The roof sculpts over the centre, resembling the outline of a leaf and connecting the building with the surrounding landscape. 5. Bark’s design extends the interior space into the public realm, with seamless links between the inside and outside.