The Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre is consciously contradictory, non-heroic and embedded into a series of larger scale. The evocative gesture of ritual burning introduces this specific practice into contemporary Australian architecture. The burning and the burnt remains are integral to the scheme and highlight the relationship between fire, the land and its inhabitants.

Located 250km north of Perth in the Nambung National Park, the Pinnacles is made of thousands of protruding limestone formations spread over a vast dunal landscape, a dynamic and ever changing scene.

The timber facade is a direct reference to the nearby grove of vanishing tuarts, disappearing under a shifting sand dune. The planting interventions include species endemic to the region. During construction, the vertical timber elements were deliberately set on fire enabling the architecture to become a registration of the role of fire in the landscape.