Spring Bay Mill; The Transformation of a Peculiar Modern Industrial Heritage Site

Spring Bay Mill, located near the small regional township of Triabunna on the east coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania, is a 43-hectare site-wide repair and regeneration of a former industrial wood chipping facility into a culture and environment-oriented events venue. This paper presents a first-hand account of the architectural design and built realisation of this project with an emphasis on the critical decisions taken in relation to the retention and adaption of existing industrial fabric. Through a discussion of four design and material actions: Retainment, Removal, Integration and Addition, it will show how the strategic reworking of the existing infrastructure was used to bring contemporary visitors into the close proximity with the vast scale of the industrial operation, it’s environmental devastation and, at the same time, amplify the visceral experience of the regenerating landscape. A brief discussion of the territorial, environmental and political context in Tasmania will ground the discussion and define the project’s local meaning and significance.