Bowral Conservatory
The Bowral Conservatory is a sensitive architectural response that respects the conceptual principles of the landscape design.
The design nestles into the stone wall to spatially complete the Parterre garden, integrating a sequence of internal and external spaces that are intended to heighten a sense of anticipation, akin to entering a secret garden.
Conceptually, the building engages with the long lineage of garden structures and evokes the formal and material characteristics of a conservatory nestled within the garden wall. As a light-weight structure set above an earthy, brick base the expression of materials in the building is both poetic and rooted in the local history of Bowral. The design plays with varying levels of transparency alluding to the distinctive lightness typically associated with greenhouses, orangeries and conservatories.
- Traditional Custodians Gundungurra and Tharawal people
- Location Bowral NSW
- Client Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens
- Procurement Design competition
- Floor area 1,400m2
The balanced arrangement of lightweight structure above a solid base is both visually attractive and an appropriate contemporary expression of the built history of the Southern Highlands.
Elizabeth Watson-Brown – Bowral Jury Chair
Varying levels of transparency and choreography of light enliven the building within and without, suggesting orangeries and conservatories and creating beautiful moments and meeting places.
Elizabeth Watson-Brown – Bowral Jury Chair
