Port Phillip Bay

RESEARCH BACKGROUND
This project formed part of 32,000 Beaches, the Australian entry curated by Leon van Schaik for the Mare Nostrum project at the 2nd Rotterdam International Architecture Biennale. Under the Biennale aegis of The Flood, Mare Nostrum examined the rise of mass tourism that relies on the presence of water. This is part of a striking aspect of globalisation where moderate and subtropical coastal regions are favoured for holidaymakers and temporary migrants, creating mixed blessings for local culture, ecology, economy and politics.

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION
Below van Schaik's ideogram a long table was covered in maps, surveys and texts. These represent the work of five commissioned architects or architectural teams, including Martyn Hook's (IPH) project which identified and offered solutions to the Port Phillip Bay region. The work examined historical inhabitation of the region since the first European settlers, identifying where problems arose and offering new solutions for occupying the water's edge in an environmentally sensitive way. Solutions were neither nostalgic nor naïve, allowing tourist development to continue, but pursuing intelligent alternatives.

RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
One of five leading practices in Australia, this work represented the best of emerging Australian architectural thinking to the international audience at the 2nd Rotterdam International Architecture Biennale, 2007.