Seeonee Bushfire Refuge & Activity Centre
Cemented in the local vernacular as the home to Scouts South Australia since 1954, the Woodhouse at Piccadilly in the Adelaide Hills has been an iconic tourist attraction, with visitor numbers exploding over the last five years. Due to its popularity, and importance to Scouts SA, an immediate response to its reinvigoration was spearheaded after the catastrophic 2019-2020 bushfire season, that saw its position threatened.
While constant dialogue had existed between the Adelaide Hills Council and Scouts surrounding the site’s Bushfire Management Plan, an immediate solution was required to ensure the site was able to safely operate in the face of future climate emergencies.
Das Studio took on the project after the site’s managers had failed to execute a sustainable, affordable and time-effective strategy for its rebuild (with another firm), in time for the next bushfire season. As a firm offering expertise in modular and prefabricated design, Das Studio were well-equipped to take on such a project in the limited time frame given.
“The biggest thing we needed to do was to compress the construction program by adopting a prefab methodology to a lot of the construction works,” says Dino Vrynios, Managing Director of Das Studio. “With this method, we could combine on-site works with off-site works, both operating concurrently, working on a basis where one part wasn’t holding up the other.”
Das Studio’s expertise with modular construction methodologies facilitated a much-needed solution for the site, reducing the project program by months and delivering the finished product at under $3000 a square metre – which is quite impressive due to the nature of the build and the list of certification requirements as a bushfire refuge.
Thus, Seeonee was born. The newly minted Scouts headquarters, named (by the Scouts) after the wolf pack from The Jungle Book for its connotations with protection and safety, is a beacon of strength and fortitude in an otherwise uncontrolled environment – the natural surrounds.
One of the key defining factors of its structural integrity is the use of masonry and blockwork from GB Masonry’s Smooth Block range in Pewter, Nickel, Pebble and Porcelain to anchor the build, creating what Dino refers to as a “bunker-like base.”
“We endeavour to use masonry in a lot of our builds because there’s something about that material that allows us to create permanence and robustness in our structures, which is a departure from business-as-usual thinking about what prefab and modular actually is.”
While counterintuitive to most designer principals, it is hoped that the site never has to be used for its actual purpose – as a bushfire refuge – so importance was also placed on look and feel of the design, as well as how it operated as an activity centre and place of learning for the Scouts.
The building form and siting responds to the sloping site in the context of the hill it’s located on and focusses its sightlines to the Cox Creek below, allowing northern sun to filter through in the cooler months and be shielded during summer.
A spine wall, constructed of GB Masonry Smooth Block in a multitude of colour finishes welcomes guests, layered to echo the mottled patterns of adjacent Eucalypt tree trunks. Greens and yellows, referencing the surrounding native leaves and flowers were applied to internal finishes, like the kitchen, roof and walls, to create a built outcome that sits in synergy with its surrounding natural environment.
Although fabricated through a need to respond to a real and emerging threat, the Seeonee Bushfire Refuge & Activity Centre is anything but imposing. Instead, its clean lines and subtle materiality blend in with the surrounding landscape, sitting sensitively in place with a functionality that is both practical, and beautiful.
- If tried and true is what you're after then the GB Smooth range is for you. Its smooth surface gives a soft glow to any project.
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