Challenge

The ambitions of this project are to bring a world class museum and extraordinary visitors experience to the remote mining town of Lightning Ridge. The building will be an exemplar sustainable project through the application of both ancient and contemporary technology.

Response

The building sits in a 8 metre deep cutting in the earth of the opal fields, drawing coolness from the ground in this hot and remote place.

The malqafs (thermal chimneys) create a striking but appropriate profile in the landscape. Internally the building protects an internal landscape of palaeolithic plants that would have existed here thousands of years ago.

The building is expected to be completed in 2024.