If Griffith architecturestudent Matthew Boyle has any say on the Gold Coast’s controversial cruise ship terminal, it will look a lot like this.
Matthew’s proposed design, to be situated on Wavebreak Island, focuses on the spatial qualities of the Gold Coast in an attempt to reveal the city’s landscape to visitors in an abstract way.
It’s this unique thinking that is taking Matthew to Paris. The Master of Architecture student has won the Griffith University French Embassy Award for his cruise ship terminal design project.
Of two site options, Matthew located his terminal on Wavebreak Island rather than onshore at the Spit. As a Gold Coast local, he believes the Spit should be left untouched due to the unique and valued qualities it provides for the community.
“Developing on Wavebreak Island would also give the community access to another beautiful area of South East Queensland, although I feel the development area needs to be kept to a minimum so as not to diminish its unique and favourable qualities,” he says.
“By observing the spatial variations of the Gold Coast environment running from the shoreline through to the hinterland, this established a conceptual framework. This concept then informed a structural façade for the terminal within which key points of its program were aligned.”
“The design attempts to provide a subtle hint towards part of what forms the Gold Coast identity.”
The French Embassy Award was judged by experts including City of Gold Coast planner Richard Clarke and architect Ed Haysom, Sydney architect Dean LaVinge and principal of Cox Rayner Architects, Michael Rayner.
The award is the brainchild of Associate Professor Karine Dupre, from Griffith’s School of Environment (Architecture), and aims to give students the opportunity to work on a real project request from the city.
“Students get a feel for what it would be like to be confronted with a real request while developing their sense of ethics and critical reflection,” says Associate Professor Dupre.
“It is also a way to train them on a large-scale project, the kind they might work on once they have graduated.”
Matthew will enjoy a tour of Paris before working with students at the Strasbourg National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) for two weeks. He will also represent Griffith’s Architecture Program at INSA and meet with the President of the International Union of Architects, Mr Albert Dubler.