Energy Sites — Yallourn

In February 1921, the State Electricity Commission of Victoria began the construction of Yallourn — today, Australia’s most polluting power station. Shortly after, the Commission started building an adjacent company town, which, also called Yallourn, was designed to house the station’s employees and their families. The township encapsulated the progressive ideas of the time: work, health, leisure, education, and purpose defined a strong community working for the common good. Yet, by the early 1980s, Yallourn became “just a big hole in the ground,” following the town’s demolition to extract the vast coal deposits lying underneath.

This astonishing history has been well documented. Starting with Mary Wilton’s film Born to Die, Yallourn’s rise and fall is also the subject of Meredith Fletcher’s book Digging People Up for Coal. The ABC’s podcast Hindsight also revisited this peculiar episode in Australia’s history. And websites like virtualyallourn.com try to preserve the memory of the disappeared settlement. Nonetheless, none of these projects situate Yallourn’s history in the discussion on climate change.

Arguably, Yallourn’s history encapsulates the entanglement of economic interests, social tensions, and political conflicts undermining Australia’s appalling record on climate action. Therefore, your task is to revisit this story as a means to develop an architectural design project stimulating climate action. A two-day visit to the Latrobe Valley will expose you to the sheer scale of Victoria’s fossil fuel energy production industry, prompting associations with topics of your personal interest and concern. Students will be asked to come up with their own design briefs, leading to the development of projects contributing to unpacking the multifarious and multiscalar complexities embedded in resource extraction.

This studio will suit students interested in climate action, and also keen readers and observers interested in exploring what architects can do in regards to the climate emergency — that is, beyond the technical aspects associated with the profession. Energy Sites — Yallourn is an Architecture Master’s studio led by Dr Eduardo Kairuz, running in S2/2022 on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to 1 pm.