• Pinnacle Discovery Centre 2022, Cerva...  

Pinnacle Discovery Centre - Cervantes - Western Australia
Nambung National Park
A Wild & Mysterious Place to visit near pinnacles

Take a trip into the world of nature at the newly completed Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre.

Set near one of Australia's most fascinating areas - the Pinnacles Desert where thousands of huge limestone pillars rise from the shifting yellow sands - the discovery centre takes visitors on a new dimension on their journey through Nambung National Park which runs beside the Turquoise Coas
The park has beautiful beaches, coastal dune systems, shady groves of tuart trees and low heathlands of plants that produce vibrantly coloured flowers between August and October.

The centre is a stepping stone into the park with a track for walkers and an interpretive centre that encourages you to use all your senses to identify the hidden wonders and signs of life in the desert. Often it is not the features of the landscape that grip us, but the contrast of the spaces, it certainly takes time to tune in to this new environment and to view the Pinnacles landscape in a different light.

Designed by John Nichlos, project architect for Woodhead International, who also designed the award winning Karijini Visitors Centre, the Pinnacles Desert Discovery has been designed in response to the landscape and has a strong relationship with the site that facilitates a sense of place to those who visit it.

Construction materisls are reflective of the area: free standing limestone walls were inspired be the Pinnacles, the vertical timber beams are tuart, mimicking the northern woodland being engulfed by the shifting sand. Lower portions of these tuart beams were deliberately set on fire to reveal the significance of fire in the forming of this landscape. Engraved into the burnt wood are Nyoongar words provided by the Yued people, echoing the strong links they have to their country and the use they made of fire to manage and live in harmony with it. The grey roof that spills over the front and rear walls of the centre echoes the spreading dodder laurel creeper that engulfs coastal heath, producing a dark sheltered and mysterious world beneath. The Pinnacles Desert Discovery is a must see on your journey through the Turquoise Coast.