Studio 5/01

Ecotourism at Apollo Bay

Ray Green

Studio Description

Site: The site is located at Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road and contains an active harbour, a nine-hole golf course, and other various recreational facilities. The overall site is approximately 16 hectares, including the golf course, foreshore and dunes, beaches, and a pier and breakwater associated with the harbour. Apollo Bay's economy was initially based on whaling, sealing and timber harvesting. However, many tourists visit the town today, and tourism is vital to the local economy. The addition of eco-tourism-related developments can support this "growth area" town's economy yet in a more sustainable manner.

Studio Theme: This studio will explore ecotourism aimed at making the site more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable in keeping with the subject's theme. The focus is on using the site's high quality ecological, aesthetic, and cultural assets to inspire the creation of a complex of ecotourism facilities and related spaces. A key aim will be to integrate the natural systems and natural and cultural features found at the site with proposed ecotourism facilities and make them optimally sustainable in terms of water, energy, ecology, materials, waste and community. Students will have to develop a program that balances various and often conflicting development options to allow this unique site and its surroundings to support eco-sensitive tourism development. The same site is also being used for a Master of Architecture Studio. Students in both the landscape and architecture studios will have opportunities to collaborate, allowing a multidisciplinary approach for integrating landscape and architecture design proposals.

Studio Outcomes

Students will first conduct an in-depth site analysis (Assignment 1). In this they will explore the site's environmental, social, and economic attributes and the opportunities and constraints they offer. Next, they will develop a master plan (Assignment 2) that proposes redeveloping the site to support eco-tourism-related activities and spaces. Finally, they will prepare detailed designs proposals (Assignment 3) for two smaller areas within their master plans. Weekly design exercises will support the development and execution of these assignments.

Studio Leader

Ray Green is a professor of landscape architecture in the Melbourne School of Design and will lead this studio. His research and professional practice have focused on sustainable land development, ecotourism and creating opportunities for people to contact with nature in urban settings. Ray is the author or co-author of various books related to the theme of this studio, including Coastal Towns in Transition: Local Perceptions of Landscape Change (2010); Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure for Smart Villages (2019); The Green City: Sustainable Homes, Sustainable Suburbs (2005); Towards Low Carbon Cities in China (2015) and Design for Change (1985). Before joining the University of Melbourne in 1999, Ray spent 12 years in professional landscape architectural practice. He undertook various projects in the United States and Mexico, Asia, and Australia, many of which were related to tourism development in coastal areas. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA), recognising his many accomplishments in research, teaching and practice in landscape architecture.

Schedule Lectures: Tuesdays 16:15-17:15; Studios: Tuesdays 17:15-20:15 and Thursdays 18:15-21:15

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