2020 - Kalkaringi,
Northern Territory

The Traditions Owners (TOs) from the Kalkaringi and Daguragu communities in remote Northern Territory have partnered with Bower Studio since 2014. This has led to the completion of the Wave Hill Walk-off pavilions (2016), extensions to Karungkarni Arts (2018) and facilities in Kalkaringi’s park (2018/19).

COVID19 delayed this year’s exercise working with the local team to transform the old clinic into a community centre. Instead we were asked to present designs supporting three other ‘real’ community projects.

Semester began with an intensive research phase (see the great mini-documentaries as well as the comprehensive research booklets). A series of community consultation meetings helped developed the brief, provide guidance on design strategies and review draft/final designs.

Family Centre: $2.5M budget

This will play an enormously important role in the community providing a varied range of family support. Balancing privacy concerns with the client’s wish for it to be an ‘open and inviting’ space provided a significant challenge for Sarah, Bronte, Shalini and Hermi.

Social Club: $250,000-$400,000 budget

This is a much loved part of Kalkaringi – aside from those community members that do not drink alcohol. Reinventing the facility to include social spaces for non-drinkers was a wicked problem for Annabelle, Damien, Gaby and Leif.

Culture Centre $6M budget

There are many, many examples where community culture centres exist for visitors and marginalise local needs. The clients recognised this and wished to ensure local engagement was supported with appropriate designs. Emma, Alexia, Caleb and Andrew.

Students produced individual designs but worked in teams to consult with the community. We are all a bit sick of Zoom but it did help facilitate 17 consultation meetings with a variety of community members including TOs. We really appreciated the community’s guidance.

The feedback and excitement from the community has been much appreciated by the team. The student’s final presentations have stimulated a number of phone calls over the following weeks and will be presented at the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation Annual General Meeting in October.

Community representatives

Special thanks to our community representatives:

  • Rob Roy
  • Quitaysha Thompson
  • Leah Leaman
  • Lisa Smiler
  • Michael Fairweather
  • Penny Smith (Karungkarni Arts and Culture)
  • Phil Smith (Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation)

Industry partners

Special thanks to our industry partners:

  • Jorja Zanotto (Arup)
  • Rachel Ngu (Arup)
  • Jacqueline Mcshane (Dulux)
  • Peter Christoudias (Surdex)
  • Paul McDonald (Stramit)
  • Damien Collis (Holcim)
  • Jacqui Piddick (Holcim)
  • Goran Djurasinovic (Nepean Building Supplies)

Studio guests and critics

Special thanks to our studio guests and critics:

  • Lyndon Ormond-Parker (UoM)
  • Alison Stout (GHD)
  • Zoe Diacolabrianos (WOWOWA)
  • Nicky Henderson (Stavrias Architecture)

Student mentors

And a very special thanks to our student mentors:

  • Emma Martin
  • Annabelle Roper

Research Documentaries

International Cultural Spaces
Australian Cultural Spaces
Consultation Techniques
Memorial Landscapes