Macquarie Point’s $945 million mini-me —the stadium on the brink of sending Tasmania to a snap election—is proudly displayed in Hobart’s Red Square. Made using a Tasmanian timber base with 3D-printed city blocks, “the model offers a closer look at the design, layout and scale of the stadium as part of the city,” said Macquarie Point Development Cooperation – the body responsible for bringing the stadium to life.
Designed by Cox Architecture—the architect responsible for the world’s largest timber-roofed stadium—digital renders helped shape the model’s look and feel, ensuring it reflected key elements of the stadium: “The base of the model is milled from Celery Top Pine, a beautifully grained Tasmanian timber, sourced from Hydrowood, a company known for recovering submerged logs and promoting sustainable forestry practices. (Whilst) the timber was laminated and precisely milled at the University of Tasmania in Launceston over several weeks,” they said.
With respect to the 190m timber-domed roof—unquestionably the stadium’s most distinctive feature—hybrid model-making techniques have been used to recreate the “woven-style” timber facade and a fixed dome translucent roof: “The translucent roof “pillows” were made using experimental thermal forming, simulating the real stadium’s ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) material.”
It comes after Tasmania’s governor yesterday said she would meet with Premier Jeremy Rockliff “by the end of the week” to decide whether the state will hold an early election. Last week, Rockliff lost a no-confidence vote on the floor of the parliament, 18-17 – a result that the Liberal leader blamed on the increasingly unpopular Macquarie Point stadium proposal.
- To learn more about Macquarie Point, click here for Wood Central’s special feature, including the full plans for the stadium.
