The new Visitor Hub at Strawberry Hill / Barmup has transformed the site by encouraging visitors to change their perspective from a focus on historic buildings in an attractive garden to a broader understanding and appreciation of its cultural landscape values.
We’re delighted that Strawberry Hill / Barmup is a finalist in the 2021 Western Australian Heritage Awards.
The Heritage tourism product category recognises a business or product that provides a heritage tourism experience and provides visitors with access to and/or interpretation of a heritage place.
Strawberry Hill / Barmup has exceptional cultural heritage significance. It is on an important Aboriginal camping area known as Barmup and was the first European farm in Western Australia. The place is representative of the meeting of two cultures – the first farm fences began the dislocation of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands. To better tell this story, the National Trust redesigned its visitor experience strategy and commissioned a new visitor hub to orient visitors and implemented a new tour-based visitor experience.
The architect and builder have both been awarded for their work on the Visitor Hub, recognising of the immense amount of expertise that has gone into transforming the visitor experience at this special heritage place.
In June PTX Architects won a heritage award for the design of the Visitor Hub at the 2021 WA Architecture Awards. And for its construction, Katie Woodhams from Albany-based K Built Construction won the award for best office space under $1.5 million at the recent Master Builders Bankwest Building Excellence Awards, Great Southern.
Image by Bo Wong
