The Sepulchre: MoNA Research and Education Architecture

RMIT University Master of Architecture Graduate Project 2015

Supervisor: Michael Spooner

MoNA Art Research and Education Archive is situated within the public avenue of John Wardle’s proposed waterfront development at Macquarie Point. The area is currently occupied by the freight rail-yard and cruise-ship terminal and was appropriated by MoNAs 2015 Dark Mofo Festival. These occupations will be retained by the future development which is focused 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 collecting the College of the Arts and delineates the space between the city and the industrial waterfront. MoNA AREA is realised through the dragging of public program along the perimeter of the archives facilities, and is further expressed as a civic plinth that celebrates the archives grounding within Hobart.

MoNA AREA accounts for the master plan it rests in, but takes the form of a celebratory sepulchre which exacerbates the legacy of David Walsh and the strange content that is 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 monument for the collector. The King is dead, long live the gambler.