Tong Su (Katrina)
Living Museum
In traditional museums, the exhibitions about trees always move the specimens or cultural artefacts away from their indigenous land to fulfil the requirements of the public and the society. However, trees should not be regarded as inanimate objects, but as witnesses to the story of loss, change and destruction. So, how should we treat trees?
This thesis project is about to display, preserve and activate the University of Melbourne Creswick Campus Historical Collection by bringing the research museum back to the campus arboretum. Inspired by the Wardle Wood Timber Specimen Collection, the museum treats existing trees differently by using imported Monterey Pine collected from the site to forms the architectural tectonic language and communicate with the existing native trees by creating different forest sensory spaces. Gallery space is designed as circulation to connect various campus functions such as Timber Workshop, Lab and Library and framing the museum as one part of the campus collection.
