Fifty years after its original construction, the Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse at Point Danger in Tweed Heads has undergone an extensive $6.5 million refurbishment incorporating 360 degree views from a new upper podium and a visitor cafe under wooden waves. 

As an integral part of the region’s architecture, proudly marking the border between New South Wales and Queensland, the reimagined lighthouse holds a rich history and is a tiny juggernaut of innovation and heritage. 

New construction now houses the Marine Rescue NSW facility on the lower podium level with a state of the art observation facility and sloping windows looming over the ocean, but not all of the structure’s prior innovations had hit the mark.

In 1971, the original tower was fitted with the first-ever helium neon laser light in place of the traditional incandescent electric lights of the time. Not surprisingly, the laser beams were promptly deemed “insufficient for the safety of shipping” as they blinded the ships’ captains instead of guiding them. They were replaced with conventional lighting shortly after installation, explains Katerina Dracopoulos, lead project architect and director at Fulton Trotter Architects.

“It was quite exciting that this teeny weeny lighthouse on the insignificant Queensland/New South Wales border was a world pioneering event. Not necessarily successful, but It was the first,” Dracopoulos says.

Heavy challenges

Dracopoulos says the brief for the project addressed some heavy-handed extensions that were added to the lighthouse in the 1980s and 1990s. 

 “A lot of the original scope was to just build in this Marine Rescue Service underneath and extend the viewing platform,” she explains. “But when we started making investigations, most of the structure had concrete cancer and was in need of significant remediation, so we ended up demolishing a lot of the surrounding structure.

“The building kind of gave us clues about what it wanted to be as an inanimate object — it does communicate with you. We wanted to try and connect to the story of the site because it has a history that far precedes European settlement. It was and still is a sacred place for the Indigenous people native to the area.”

By removing some of the less sensitive interventions of the structure, Dracopoulos was able to respect the original building while creating an extension that was in keeping with the original intent of the brutalist, mid-century, modernist icon. 

To bring the structure up to accessibility standards, the myriad staircases entwining the building were converted into a series of ramps, one of which flows into a natural pathway leading visitors underneath the building to reveal a subterranean milieu with uninterrupted ocean views. “We wanted to make it a discrete and slowly evolving reveal,” Dracopoulos says. “It’s a journey of discovery.”

Due to the placement of the structure straddling the border of New South Wales and Queensland, two different sets of regulations had to be adhered to. There were also heritage architects from Queensland and heritage architects from New South Wales who held slightly different views. The power came from New South Wales and the water came from Queensland, meaning the builders needed certification across both States. Dracopoulos says it was by far the most complicated project in her career.

“For all of us, it was a true labour of love and one that I cannot believe is actually finished,” she says. “When you look back at the drawings we came up with for the concept, we started in 2018. We had the concept nailed by March 2019. The design was the easiest part. The rest of it was the complications of the two states and the number of stakeholders. But it was all worth it in the end.”

Devil in the details 

Where that labour of love truly shows is in the details of the final restoration. Because the building straddles the border of New South Wales and Queensland in an oblique line, the architects decided to make a feature of it with a bronze inlay in the form of a diagonal line across the external tiles demarcating the border. 

The Black Dingo Cafe, named in honour of First Nations occupants of the land, is another feature that was given great consideration. With panoramic ocean views, it features polished concrete floors and walls rising to a wavy timber ceiling that absorbs the often cacophonous din of chatter, which Dracopoulos says is important.

“It’s all very nice to have a sexy, slick interior fit-out, something that looks nice in photos, but if you can’t hear each other when you’re there, that just drives people nuts. The ceilings are so lovely with the timber waves. We wanted to bring some softness into the space and allude to the waves of the ocean and the ebb and flow of the tides.”

Detail was even given to an often ignored area of a cafe: the toilet. Adding a whimsical element to the space, the design makes reference to the romance of the Gold Coast of the 1950s, 60s and 70s with pops of coloured tiles. Each toilet is a different colour of pistachio, pale pink, lemon yellow and sky blue. 

Working in a team of expert architects, Fulton Trotter Architects brought the vision to life in collaboration with landscape architect Duncan Gibbs, structural and civil engineers Cozens Regan Group, mechanical and electrical engineers from EMF Griffiths, hydraulics by Compass Consulting, builder Multi Span Australia and building certifier Formiga 1.

“The Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse has stood as a firm landmark for many generations, attracting locals and tourists, as well as housing the Marine Rescue NSW services within its base, and it’s been a pleasure working with the team on this project,” Dracopoulos concludes.

Images provided.

Read about another reimagined lighthouse.