2021 BLACKET PRIZE

2021 BLACKET PRIZE

ROCKY HILL MEMORIAL MUSEUM

CRONE WITH URBIS

This project situated close to Goulburn promotes planning and design excellence in a regional context and is a work of outstanding merit. It is a simple building with a sensitive interior that showcases the collection in a way that is not overwhelming, and easily understandable. Opened in 2020, the Rocky Hill Memorial Museum extension is a new, purpose-built wing sensitively inserted into an existing cultural site of remembrance for fallen soldiers of war.

The recent addition sits within the Rocky Hill precinct, overlooking Goulburn, at the foot of the Rocky Hill Memorial Tower (EC Manfred Architect 1924) and next to the previous Caretaker’s Cottage, now part of the museum. In strengthening the identity of the site, the precinct upgrade has been able to achieve a lot within a relatively modest budget, which was partly funded through the federal government’s Building Better Regions fund.

The design incorporates bronze mirrored cladding elements to reflect the surrounding landscape whilst signifying the precinct as a place of reflection, while the textured concrete structure is a contemporary interpretation of the memorial tower and its substrate. The new building location minimises any further damage to an iconic landscape, working on the sections of Country disturbed by existing infrastructure and historic site excavation for raw materials during the construction of the Memorial Tower.

PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE: STEPHEN SHARKEY. RIGHT: SALLY HSU