Architecture is always ideological. Originally, the shores of Willoughby Bay were cared for by the Cammeraygal people, a first nations clan that were ruthlessly massacred by the British invasion of Australia. The tidal mudflat that once provided shellfish is now buried beneath football fields; A bay once defined by fish is instead consumed by yachts; The once pristine eucalyptus forests are scarred with gaudy mansions and the monocultured golf course lawn. The only remaining evidence of indigenous history is hidden within shallow rock shelters next to the suburb’s stormwater runoff. While nothing will ever amend this damage, Folly Lookout is a small spatial step towards exposing the sites history, highlighting first knowledges, and building reconciliation between colonial and indigenous Australia.

Crafted from the shapes and material systems of woven Aboriginal fishing traps, COR-TEN steel “fibers” spiral up from the tidal rocks to a tree top precipice. Placed on the very tip of Folly Point, the lookout is an unmissable beacon on the harbour, recentering the societal narrative like a lighthouse guides a ship. A thin perforated walkway guides visitors from the sandstone shore to its precarious interior. the funnel catches the sloshing sounds of water on rock, while strands of twinkling light weave between spiral stairs. The lookout’s structural filaments extend like a ships great bow; Its rusting husk slowly eaten away by ocean air. With conscious and sustained effort, as architecture dissolves into oblivion, we can replace markers like this with something more valuable, societal change.