Her Tapestry

Architecture Design; at Neeson Murcutt Architects, Sydney, 2017

This project proposes a visitor center on the site of a former female convict factory in Tasmania - established by the British military and recognized as the only remaining female penal site globally with substantial physical remnants. The location bears the layered histories of forced migration, mass incarceration, and settler colonialism.

The architectural intervention traces the original height of the ruined walls, marking their absence while preserving their presence, wrapping a lightweight enclosure that gently touches the relic while opening up to the landscape around. A walkway extends from the terrace level to the excavated archaeological foundations. Tapestry is introduced as a primary material language woven into the canopy and interior walls, offering a tactile medium through which historical narratives, particularly those of women and incarceration, are both acknowledged and reinterpreted.