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Shearing Shed, in Follies & Ruins, Michael Hornblow, Sawtooth Gallery (2018). 1m x 3m banner: image collage from drone photogrammtry of farm ruins near Ross, Tasmania

Species Hotel - a game lab


Species Hotel is a multi-faceted project exploring biodiversity and native habitat restoration in the Tasmanian Midlands, Australia. In 2017, I led a group of Design Research students in Architecture and Design from the University of Tasmania to present an interactive Game Lab at Junction Arts Festival. The Game Lab aimed to promote public awareness and community participation for a much larger project managed by Greening Australia - the Midlands Restoration Corridor. This involves a significant area of revegetation in the Tasmanian Midlands, where more than 400,000 native plants have been established in a biodiversity hotspot to improve local habitat for native animals.

Working with designers from Bitlink, and drone photogrammetry specialist Stephen Harwin from Terra Luma, the Game Lab included a VR navigation on Oculus Rift using drone imagery of the restoration landscape near the Ross township; alongside a biodiversity strategy game using a light-box table in the shape of a terrain map of the same area. Other Game Lab elements included participatory street performance, site-specific Augmented Reality on mobile media throughout the Princes Park Festival Hub by Darryl Rogers, several workshops with local schools, and a number of large posters with background research resources around local flora and fauna, flow-on effects, and landscape restoration sites.

Office for Play Ecologies (Design Research team): Michael Hornblow, Ashlea Graham, Ahmed Kabodan, Mohamad Mohd Fauri, Siti Yahya, Wei Jiang, Darryl Rogers, Aaron Ross, Matthew Campbell

Partners: University of Tasmania (Architecture & Design, Creative Arts, Biological Sciences), Ian Potter Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Interweave, Launceston College, Campbell Town School, Huonville High School, Bitlink, Creative Exchange Institute

Publication:

“From little things, big things grow: Building connections through place-based education in the Tasmanian Midlands biodiversity hotspot”, Louise Wallis, Michael Hornblow, Nel Smit, David Mangenner Gough, Kit Wise, Tanya Bailey, in Ecological Management & Restoration, December 2021

Gallery (click through below)

Lines 1-2: game play on the light-table, The Wilderness Society, JAF2017; drone imagery, ruin abstraction and 3D model
Line 3: landscape abstractions from drone image files