A small shelter with an eye-level view of something remarkable.
Saffire Freycinet became one of the key partners in the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program as part of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research's work to find a vaccine for Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. As part of that commitment, the resort brought a number of devils to the site and established a one-hectare free-range enclosure for mature animals from the breeding program. Our role was to design the viewing shelter where guests encounter them.
Designed to disappear into the landscape.
The shelter was designed to sit quietly within Saffire's East Coast landscape — in keeping with the resort's architectural character without competing with the setting or the experience itself. A large horizontal picture window is the single defining element, positioned to place guests at eye height with the devils as they move through the enclosure. The building frames the encounter without intruding on it.
Architecture at this scale is most successful when it steps back and lets something else take precedence. Here, that something else is a species fighting for its survival in the wild. The shelter gives guests the conditions to witness that story up close. What they do with it is up to them.
