noosa-heads

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6.6                    ‘THE HASTINGS’
LOCATION                    30 Hastings Street, Noosa Heads

TENURE                      Freehold. 1RP93961

DATES                       1984

DESCRIPTION                 A complex of twenty-five pre-fabricated, two-storey, detached units with shop fronts
                            adjacent to Hastings Street.37
                            Gabriel Poole used the principles of prefabricated system of lightweight building to
                            accomplish the building of this complex. Each unit consists of two bedrooms and
                            bathroom on the top level with kitchen and living areas below.
                            Raised above the ground on a steel substructure, each unit provided carparking
                            underneath. Because the only other steel used in the building was in the floor framing, the
                            walls were made more substantial than a single-skin. Instead they were positioned on the
                            floor and locked together. The second floor steel frame was then lifted by crane and
                            attached to the walls already in position. This process was repeated for the second storey
                            walls. The roof was assembled on the ground and included all fittings such as down pipes
                            and vents. When completed the structure was lifted by crane into position.




                                    Overlooking ‘The Hastings’ from the lookout, Noosa National Park

6.6.1        BRIEF HISTORY
‘The Hastings’ were designed by Noosa architect Gabriel Poole, and built in 1984. Poole is an internationally respected
architect and a winner of the Queensland Robin Dods Award in 1991, the National Robin Boyd Award in 1991 and the
National Gold Medal Award ‘for his lifetime contribution to Australian architecture’ in 1998. ‘The initial concept for the
design...generated from a request by a real estate agent for Poole to design ‘something on a group title cheaply’ for
Hastings Street.’38 Acting as both architect and builder, Poole constructed the first unit as a prototype. From there a team
consisting of Poole and John Mainwaring as architects, Gordon Craig as builder and David Barnes as
contractual/financial consultant completed the complex in eight months.39
6.6.2        HISTORICAL THEMES
This place illustrates the following historical themes in the Noosa Shire based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s,
Guidelines for Historical and Indigenous Cultural Heritage Management, dated 2001 -
2(g) Developing rural economies - encouraging the growth of tourism: tourist accommodation (apartments);
4(f) Establishing and developing towns – developing a regional style of architecture; and


37
  For photographs of ‘The Hastings’ see Bruce Walker, Gabriel Poole Space in which the soul can Play, Noosa, Visionary Press, 1998
pp. 48-49.
38
     Walker, p. 48.
39
     Gabriele Poole, pers. comm., 2000.