An expedition to the Heron Island Scientific Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef gave architecture students from the University of Queensland an opportunity to analyse the micro-anatomies of the reef’s dynamic ecosystem.
As a result of this firsthand experience, students became explorers, biologists and marine illustrators, combining their artistic aesthetic sensibilities, architectural intelligence and technological devices to immerse themselves in the spatial conditions of the reef.
Using a series of survey and representational techniques, including images, point clouds and three-dimensional models, marinescapes became ‘sense-able’ and, hence, understandable. Technology was used to extract underwater information; however, the final documentation was not only mere data collection. The use of technology, filtered through the students’ own vision and subjectivities, allowed a reinterpretation of this particular marine environment.
The twelve resulting portraits of surreal marine specimens and an imaginary seascape masterpiece serve as guiding vehicles to navigate across this unknown territory.
