Home Among the Gum Trees – Grampians Peaks Trail by Noxon Giffen and McGregor Coxall

After three-and-a-half years of collaboration, the work of architects Noxon Giffen and landscape designers McGregor Coxall has culminated in a sensitive series of shelters along the Grampians Peaks Trail.

The world-class hiking trail stretches 160 kilometres through the heritage-listed Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, on Jadawadjali and Djab Wurrung Country. Encompassing everything from day walks to 13-day hikes, the trail traverses Mt Zero in the north to Dunkeld in the south – including Mt Difficult, Halls Gap, Redman Bluff and Mt Abrupt along the way – with modest yet highly considered, contextually-appropriate facilities provided at intervals.

Each structure is striking but intentionally submissive, quietly doing its job whilst being permeated by the beauty of the bush.

The Traditional Owners of Gariwerd, represented by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Eastern Maar
Aboriginal Corporation and Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, were consulted to define clear guidelines and boundaries for the use of the 11 selected sites.

The resulting structures – a communal hiker shelter, amenities pods and Gariwerd camp huts – touch the ground lightly. Each structure is striking but intentionally submissive, quietly doing its job whilst being permeated by the beauty of the bush. The off-grid sites’ greywater is treated to the highest standard through passive systems, and mindful circulation minimises disturbance of the landscape, keeping visitors to the trails through intuitive design rather than imposing infrastructure.

The materiality and form of the buildings are sympathetic to their environment, a design imperative that is a running thread between each individual structure. Robust and utilitarian on the one hand and delicate and beautifully detailed on the other, the shelters exemplify both shed-like and tent-like qualities, providing just enough protection while maintaining a prevailing openness. Silvering ironbark cladding disappears into surrounding stone, charred hardwood-clad silhouettes stand alongside the dark shapes of far-off peaks, and the burnt orange of oxidised steel mimics rust coloured sandstone.

Responding to the three key elements of the Parks Victoria brief – celebrating Gariwerd’s exceptional landscapes, recognising the scale and diversity of the terrain and responding to the remote nature of the trail in terms of construction and maintenance – Noxon Giffen and McGregor Coxall offer not only carefully composed places of shelter but a heightened experience of the landscape to all who pass through.