2013 National Architecture Awards: Small Project

Jury citation

The Third Wave Kiosk is a strong piece of beachside construction that recalls shipwrecks, forts, cliffs and ruins. The form can hold its own in the big landscape and shows how beachside facility architecture can make a tough, poetic contribution to the coastal landscape. On Victoria’s Torquay Beach, it is a tangible place marker at the nexus of pedestrian circulation, car parking and beach access. It emerges from the primary dune as a highly visible, layered relic, orienting beachgoers from the water’s edge.

The kiosk provides a minimal takeaway food function on a generous elevated lookout. It creates a great meeting place and surf-watching spot and is a strong identity marker. The kiosk is constructed from recycled sheet piles. They are used as structure, skin, seating, balustrade, permanent formwork and retaining wall. The use of a single material, with its robust detailing and inherent durability, gives a sense of appropriateness to place while appearing new and “always there” at the same time. Despite its unfinished condition and economic fitout, the major moves are strong enough to prove the power of the design.

Read the project review by Jennifer Calzini for Architecture Australia.