Designed by Place: The Future of Tasmania’s Visitor Experience

Intended workshop audience: Suitable for tourism operators, founders, business leaders, and tourism professionals interested in design, visitor experience, branding, and destination development.

Workshop Description: In a modern landscape increasingly saturated with AI-generated and artificial content, the desire for authentic, tactile and meaningful experiences has never been greater, and Tasmania might just hold the most competitive advantage in the world. In this workshop, Cumulus Studio’s Peter Walker will explore the centrality of design and architecture to Tasmania’s unique value proposition - strengthening brand identity, driving visitor appeal, and delivering place-specific experiences.

Using case studies, including award-winning local tourism projects, Peter will describe how operators can - and should - foster cohesive relationships between built form and the natural environment, shifting Tasmania’s visitor economy away from generic and volume-driven tourism models, and toward high-value, experience-led travel, grounded in local culture, landscape and story.

A response to global shifts in favour of slow travel, wellness tourism, and extended dwell models, Peter’s workshop will offer practical strategies for operators to align their design decisions with target market expectations and behaviours, prioritise quality over quantity in both design and offering, use architecture to shape the visitor journey, and leverage design to strengthen brand identity and recognition. The session will position design and built form not as incidentals, but as key drivers of economic resilience, brand strength, and long-term differentiation for tourism in Tasmania.

About Peter
- Cumulus Studio Founder, Senior Director and Principal Architect

Peter Walker uses design to better understand the world around him. Insatiably curious, he sees each project as an opportunity to dive into something new, be it place, culture, material or experience. For Peter, architecture is best practised with a light-hearted, playful and open mindset.

Awarded nationally and internationally for his high profile tourism project portfolio, Peter’s work includes creating sensitive projects within World Heritage-listed sites such as the Dove Lake Shelter, and transforming industrial buildings like Pumphouse Point, as well as new projects such as Saffire Freycinet.

With a long interest in philosophy, Peter is drawn to create spaces that communicate, reinforce and support values.