On Edge - Public spaces in Skenes Creek, Apollo Bay and Marengo

The On Edge studios proposed a range of design scenarios that embraced the effects of climate change on the dynamic coastal edge of the towns of Skenes Creek, Apollo Bay and Marengo situated along the Great Ocean Road. This shoreline area will continue to face dramatic changes caused by frequent storm patterns that have already caused the narrowing or removal of dunes and foreshore.

These impacts threaten the Great Ocean Road and other assets such as cultural heritage, vegetation, carparks, coastal paths and stormwater drains. The dramatic nature of the change, in which large chunks of foreshores have collapsed and eroded, has been addressed through the installation of groyne fields and seawalls in this area. But such hard structures may not be optimal to long-term adaptation and could create new problems. As an alternative, nature based, systemic approaches offer opportunities for more sustainable and ecologically-sensitive approaches.

Based on this latter approach, the studio began with the premise that the Great Ocean Road needs to be moved away from the coastal edge in Skenes Creek, Apollo Bay and Marengo. The act of retreating the Great Ocean Road and cars away from the foreshore, expands and frees up pubic space and provides a buffer zone for a range of adaptions to occur over time. The old road remains in place and can be utilised for activities for as long as viable. 

The newly aligned Great Ocean Road sits slightly inland behind Skenes Creek, snakes around the back and through the township of Apollo Bay, is bridged over the Barham River Estuary, and re-joins the existing road in Marengo. Viewed through a longer-term lens, there are multiple benefits that the proposition of moving the road brings.

Student projects

In response to the public space made available by moving the road, Monash University architecture and urban planning and design students curated a series of hybrid, multi-purpose infrastructures and
amenities that could protect and enhance the biodiversity and ecology, provide new tourist experiences and facilities, improve economies and housing diversity, and transition the towns to net zero emissions.

Protection, amenity, biodiversity

A new linear pathway, the old road, expands and consolidates the Great Ocean Walk, offering active transport to walkers and bike riders with multiple features along its length. At Skenes Creek, a multipurpose bridge and a revegetated shoreline with protective, stepped community walls provide beach access. At Wild Dog Creek, a stablished dune protects the intertidal zone, and tourist educational facilities include pavilion shelters and an updated Museum. In Apollo Bay, the local iconic but vulnerable old Cypress trees are repurposed into shoreline shelters, and a long, thin shed offers a sense of arrival with a bus drop off area. Carparking has been relocated away from the foreshore to previously underutilised areas on Pascoe Street with solar-powered charging stations for growing number of electric cars. An enlivened and dual front commercial precinct has widened and enlivened, pedestrianised areas on both the old roadside and on the new Great Ocean Road/Pascoe Street side, with the two sides connected by multiple cut throughs. Activated plaza spaces in between enable businesses to have fronts and back entrances. Further along, the old road path is connected to the Nelson Street corner with its wartime heritage integrated with new contemporary facilities. The now accessible and integrated Apollo Bay Harbour continues to reflect its local character and function as both fishing port and tourist destination. Around the corner at Apollo Bay South, a caravan typology of lifted structures sits above the waterline to enable ‘camping’ to continue. Here the new Great Ocean Road rises above the spreading intertidal Barham River Estuary onto a two-level productive bridge, with the top section devoted to a new form of regenerative agriculture, and the underpart utilised for a dense housing typology that is integrated into the bridge structure. The old road continues to weave along the edge with education facilities. At the Marengo end, a protective wall offers places to sit and recreate along its structure and out at sea experimental diving and fishing reefs support fishing industries and generate tourism opportunities. Increased plantings along the edge and into the town provide amenity and biodiversity, while also addressing urban heat island effect and reducing fire risk through the selection of fire-resistant species. Buildings on the edge and throughout the towns generate solar power with excess energy stored in a large community battery.

On Edge_ Public Space in Skenes Creek, Apollo Bay and Marengo
Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Planning and Design Studios,
Department of Architecture, Monash University