WETLANDS AND ALUMINA: HYBRID LANDSCAPES IN QUEENSLAND

Eleanor Margot Gibson has a vision of nature being set to work on a huge industrial area on the east coast of Australia.

18.03.2021

A massive wetland system is located on the Australian east coast. Or, at least, it used to be until the 1960s. Today, the area is characterised by hectic human activity; activities which primarily result from the planet’s insatiable need for energy and raw materials. Coal terminals, alumina refineries and power plants are now located where there used to be water and vegetation.

Industrial area in Queensland // Illustration: Eleanor Margot Gibson

This is, however, all about to change. The fossil era is coming to an end. What will the future bring for the city of Gladstone – today a hub for the shipping of coal and alumina? Eleanor Margot Gibson proposes an answer to this question in her Master’s project Reimagining the Company Town: A Model For Future Landscapes of Coexistence, a project she defended in January 2021.

‘There is a strong contrast between the landscape and the industry. The landscape has changed not as a result of natural processes but as a consequence of human activities,’ she says.

Industrial Plant in Queensland. Illustration: Eleanor Margot Gibson.

When the large industrial plants are gradually decommissioned, Eleanor proposes they should be left untouched and be allowed to gradually merge with nature. Nature will then, over time, be sending water, animals, and long green tentacles into cracks and holes in the concrete and in the fences – transforming the area into a hybrid between nature and the imprint left by human beings; an imprint which will slowly be erased.

‘The project involves two scales: a 100-year plan for the entire region, in which the fragments of the facilities lie like skeletons around which nature can grow. On a smaller scale, I propose the transformation of the iconic alumina refinery into a Critical Zone Observatory, where visitors can gain an insight into the interrelated ecosystems and climatic changes of the area.’

Queensland, Australia // Illustration: Eleanor Margot Gibson

Eleanor’s project provides a model that can be applied elsewhere in the world where there are similar circumstances.

After graduating from Aarhus School of Architecture, she is now looking for new places where she can develop her professional expertise, ideally with a focus on the encounter between mankind and nature.

She is specifically looking for practices, design studios, and other partners who take an interest in the consequences of sea level rise and in how we can deal with climate change in a systemic way.

Eleanor Margot Gibson. Foto: Privat

‘We need to broaden the perspective of architectural practice and look at ecology and politics when we design and build. In my opinion such a focus adds to our capacity for action and contributes meaning to the work of architects.’

In Gladstone, there are still no signs of Eleanor’s vision and the coal goes on rattling along the conveyor belts. But of course, the success of a 100-year plan cannot be judged after only one month.

See Eleanor’s entire project at our graduation site.