The Sepulchre: MoNA Research and Education Architecture

RMIT University Master of Architecture Graduate Project 2015

Supervisor: Michael Spooner

The MoNA Art Research and Education Archive (AREA) is situated within the public avenue of John Wardle’s proposed waterfront development at Macquarie Point. This area, currently occupied by the freight rail yard and cruise ship terminal, was appropriated by MoNA’s 2015 Dark Mofo Festival. These occupations will be retained in the future development, which focuses on the space between the city and the cenotaph.

The Archive is located along the pedestrian trajectory of Franklin Wharf. This avenue crosses Sullivans Cove, connecting the College of the Arts and delineating the space between the city and the industrial waterfront. MoNA AREA is realised through the integration of public program along the perimeter of the archive’s facilities, further expressed as a civic plinth that celebrates the archive’s grounding within Hobart.

MoNA AREA acknowledges the master plan it rests in but takes the form of a celebratory sepulchre, amplifying the legacy of David Walsh and the strange content housed in his storage facilities.

MoNA AREA is an urban crown for the extension of the city, a totem for the local art community, and a monument for the collector. The King is dead, long live the gambler.