Surf Life Saving Australia is an iconic and revered not-for-profit community organisation.
With 314 affiliated Surf Life Saving Clubs run by volunteers, its work is central to Australian surf culture.
The Woolamai SLSC commissioned MRTN Architects to design a new life saving tower at Smiths Beach in Victoria.
Smiths Beach is in a sensitive and challenging location.
It’s sensitive because the tower site is located on the exposed coastal park edge of Phillip Island and falls within the protected Phillip Island Nature Parks – a key habitat for migratory Shearwater birds.
It’s challenging because there’s no vehicular access or water craft launching opportunity at Smiths Beach.
So the new tower, designed by MRTN Architects in collaboration with Tract Consultants, had to…
- provide lifesavers with shelter from the weather
- be sensitive to the protected native vegetation on site
- be prefabricated, relocatable, and craned into position to minimize site disturbance
- be self-sufficient in a remote, hard-to-get-to location
- be a visible patrol presence during the summer months when lifesavers were on patrol
- be a base for beach safety, a space for the provision of first aid, and storage for equipment
The tower was designed to withstand the brutal coastal environment, but have a quiet and elegant presence in a beautiful and very public location.
The structure has no discernible front or rear.
It was designed to be viewed in the round.
The drum form is accentuated with angled and weathered ironbark fins.
The fins conceal a corrugated metal facade.
The location and extent of the long-glazed opening was given careful consideration in consultation with the Club.
It was critical to ensure the field-of-view to high-risk areas of the water and popular sections of the beach was optimized.
The tower’s shutters are opened at the start of each patrol and closed at the end of the day and for the entire off-season at the end of summer.
They provide important protection from vandalism.
But they also telegraph when the beach is being patrolled.
The new patrol tower is deemed a success by beach-goers and the Woolamai SLSC community of volunteers.
Project Team
Architecture
MRTN Architects
MRTN Architects is a design focused architecture and interior design studio located in Melbourne, Australia.
They have a reputation for new and renovated homes that are designed for the people who live there.
Landscape Architecture
Tract
Tract is a national planning and design practice specializing in town planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and associated digital media.
Photography
Jesse Marlow
Jesse is a widely published street and editorial photographer based in Melbourne, Australia.
He is a member of in-public.com and hosts international street photography workshops.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2020 MRTN Architects and Tract Consultants. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2020 Jesse Marlow. All Rights Reserved.
Other Civic Projects
Leighton Beach Facilities, Mitcham Memorial Library.
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