Our wheel as windmill whimsy

Docklands’ troubled Southern Star Observation Wheel has been re-purposed in the imagination of some local visionaries as a giant eco-friendly windmill.

Designer Soren Luckins said he had the idea when driving past the forlorn structure.

“I thought we should put some clever minds together and visualise our own proposition for the wheel,” Mr Luckins said.

“So with photographer Peter Bennetts and Fooch from Squint Opera, we came up with this – a Greek windmill-inspired sci-fi future with a wind-driven, solar-sail-energy-collecting wheel, as a hub for a new fleet of flying steam-powered trams to alleviate congestion in a newly-greened Melbourne.”

“Although maybe not obvious, there are some serious ideas and questions amongst the madness,” Mr Luckins said.

“For example, how do we efficiently adapt, reuse and re-function outdated infrastructure?”

The Southern Star is currently being rebuilt having failed last January after 40 days in operation.