Lakeside Discovery Centre by March Studio
In 2017, we responded to an expression of interest (EOI) for the Lakeside Discovery Centre, a visitor experience for Victoria’s much-loved Puffing Billy Railway. We were one of four offices selected to submit a proposal in what was our first paid
EOI competition.
Situated on the edge of the Emerald Lake Park in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, our scheme engaged with the language of the railway from an engineering perspective but also an experiential one. In our architectural response, we wanted to emulate the childhood thrill of screaming through a tunnel and flying over the famous timber truss bridge on the steam train, legs dangling out the window.
Our approach took contemporary utilitarian infrastructure elements, such as standard concrete tunnel sections and steel members, to propose a building that simultaneously nestled into the landscape and cantilevered out above.
As a small, young practice, this was our first truly collaborative project: we had the opportunity to afford an outsourced architecture visualization company, Doug and Wolf, and we teamed up with landscape architect Openwork and interpretative designers Broadcast.
We did not win the competition but this unbuilt project represents a pivotal point – a kind of coming-of-age – for our studio. As a result of this work, we actually began to believe that we could outgrow our humble beginnings (designing soap stores) and compete on a stage with Australia’s best architects. We’ve since lost a few more competitions and had some successes. But the opportunity, experience and excitement afforded by the Lakeside Discovery Centre experience inspires us to keep on competing.