QUARANTINE I-V | POINT NEPEAN

RMIT | 2020-2023


‘QUARANTINE STUDIO speculated on the rebirth of regionalism by proposing new local tourism activations. The studio investigated the land, buildings, and structures in and around Melbourne’s original sanatorium, proposing new uses for the previously underutilized public land, landscape, and infrastructure.’

Situated at the end of the Mornington Peninsula in the Point Nepean National Park, Melbourne’s former Quarantine Station served as the fitting location for QUARANTINE STUDIO.

While the studio did not propose relocating modern-day quarantining back to the Peninsula, it questioned and proposed future uses for the largely abandoned buildings littered throughout the site.

Given Melbourne’s history of extended lockdowns, QUARANTINE STUDIO speculated on the rebirth of regionalism by proposing new local tourism activations. The studio investigated the land, buildings, and structures in and around Melbourne’s original sanatorium, proposing new uses for the previously underutilized public land, landscape, and infrastructure.

The Point Nepean National Park remained closed to the general public for years, and its long period of isolation resulted in the preservation and regeneration of a dramatic landscape.

Students researched the site’s history, ranging from Bunurong times and the sanatorium years—where ships plagued by illness were quarantined—to the construction of defense systems during the Gold Rush and the first shot of the First World War.

Stories of diseased early settlers, a litany of shipwrecks, and the drowning of Australia’s 17th Prime Minister, Harold Holt, were unpacked, researched, mapped, and recorded to uncover programmatic opportunities and inform proposals for the land and its existing structures.

The Point Nepean National Park remained closed to the general public for years, and its long period of isolation resulted in the preservation and regeneration of a dramatic landscape.

Students researched the site’s history, ranging from Bunurong times and the sanatorium years—where ships plagued by illness were quarantined—to the construction of defense systems during the Gold Rush and the first shot of the First World War.

Stories of diseased early settlers, a litany of shipwrecks, and the drowning of Australia’s 17th Prime Minister, Harold Holt, were unpacked, researched, mapped, and recorded to uncover programmatic opportunities and inform proposals for the land and its existing structures.

Participants reviewed the 2017 Master Plan commissioned by the State Government, questioned its content, and identified opportunities for new programs and subsequent architectural interventions.

Along with the site, the studio focused heavily on tectonics, materiality, and buildability. Active heritage conservation—rather than conservation for conservation’s sake—was the primary driver, with eco-tourism as the intended outcome.