Jock Comini Rest Area

NMBW were invited by VicRoads to submit a design proposal for new amenities at the Jock Comini Rest Area in Ravenswood, north-western Victoria. The rest area is positioned along the Calder Highway, a continuous highway experience that passes through a changing landscape. NMBW’s concept for intervening in this landscape is to erect a ‘tarpaulin’ which creates both a new space and a framing of the wider landscape. A long-span frame is erected using reclaimed tree trunks and telegraph poles, over which a thin steel sheet roof is draped forming a natural catenary arch. The sloping site is accommodated through gentle terracing and use of on-site rock for retaining earth. The central curving wall/ screen for the toilets forms a self-stiffening sheet structure, also from steel.