Monash Steps/Stawell Steps

By Hiroshi Nakao, Nigel Bertram, Virginia Mannering, with Peter Bennetts (Photographer)

This book presents documentation, reflection and critical analysis of two award-winning projects Monash Steps and Stawell Steps. These linked projects were designed and built by Monash Architecture students under the leadership of Hiroshi Nakao and Nigel Bertram. The works were developed in close collaboration with the town of Stawell, through partnership with local brick maker Krause bricks and civil engineers at the Northern Grampians Shire council.

Monash Steps and the associated exhibition were installed at the Monash University Museum of Art in 2012, making a temporary occupiable space using dry-stacked bricks. Stawell Steps is a permanent installation on the banks of Cato Lake in the centre of Stawell. It acts as permanent flood-relief infrastructure for the town, and provides a new type of community space within the park.

The book includes specially commissioned photographic material of the works, significant historic buildings and landscapes in Stawell, and the Krause brickworks. Original drawings and conceptual material are combined with post-occupancy images and texts from a range of different viewpoints.

About this book