Cardboard and LED lights were used to transform Evandale Parklands into the ocean floor earlier this year when Griffith University students took part in the third annual Glow Festival.
Part of the Gold Coast Arts Centre’s Watershed Project and integral to the development of the Bundall Cultural Precinct, the Glow Festival attracted 8,000 festivalgoers in April.
Griffith University’s Architecture Program collaborated with Glow Festival organisers to design and construct the Pavilion.
The project extends over three years, culminating in a display of the three pavilions during the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
This year Griffith University Lecturer Dr Ruwan Fernando and Associate Professor Karine Dupre led a team of Griffith Architecture students and one Southport State High School student on the Pavilion project, with work starting in January.
Griffith University’s Pavilion design was inspired by the concept of coral and was designed to remind people about the beauty and fragility of the oceans — an issue that has since become even more topical after severe bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
Architecture student Dadi Dindul said the Pavilion celebrated the magical colours found in the ocean.
“The design developed a modular approach for its construction, inspired by the coral’s unique organic patterns and systems,” he said.
“The Pavilion, which was almost four metres high, was made almost entirely of recycled cardboard and was lit up with LED lights.
From Nigeria, Dadi is studying a Masters of Architecture, and despite only being in Australia a year, is already acutely aware of the environmental issues facing the country.
“We wanted to remind people to protect the Australian coral reef,” he said.
Dadi was joined by other Griffith University students on the project including Maddy Cushway, Nikki Findlay, Emily Paterson and Sahel Dupre-Virtamo.
