Tidal Garden

RESEARCH BACKGROUND Tidal Garden was a speculative project that addressed the curatorial themes of the 2nd Rotterdam Biennale: the impact of mass tourism on coastlines, specifically the implications for expanding towns surrounded by fragile ecological systems. The project generated speculative designs for a floodplain location within the River Murray estuary, drawing on previous research by Black where the process engaged with the whole river. Here it was applied at a different scale: an island in the river's estuary. This instigated a new series of off-site and on-site operations, constructing site knowledge and addressing issues at the scale of infrastructure. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION Many rural townships sited next to pristine coastlines or wetlands are faced with looming population growth. Goolwa, a rural town located between fragile wetlands of the Murray River estuary and the coastal dune landscape of Encounter Bay is predicted to triple in size. Tidal Garden explored the opportunities of this paradox: the inevitable population growth of rural townships while also trying to minimise further urbanisation of wetlands. Research outcomes explored strategies of containment, concentrating most significant growth close to existing infrastructure to minimise suburban sprawl onto adjacent wetlands and dune systems. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE Tidal Garden has been exhibited and discussed extensively. It was shown at the 2nd International Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam, featured in the exhibition catalogue, and formed the topic of a public lecture at the Mare Nostrum Conference at the Netherlands Architecture Institute, chaired by Professor Bart Lootsma. The work underpins Black's PhD research and led to his Visiting Professorship at the Leopold Franzen Uni. Innsbruck, Austria for the 2007 academic year. Tidal Garden was published in "The Flood" by S Quigley in Architecture Australia 2005 and reviewed by D Neustein in Monument magazine Dec/Jan 2005.