Djinjama

Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in the Dandenong Ranges is hosting ngurrak barring. Our co-design with COLA Studio for Yarra Ranges Council is currently being fabricated and built. We have been designing 5 Nodes that express the narratives shared by key Knowledge Holders. They are located in key places across the ngurrak barring walk. Node 4 is the Activism Node, inspired by the sparks held within communities that activates them in their fights for justice and while protecting Country and ecology. Thanks to Webb Welding for welcoming us to their factory, we are excited to see the works coming together.

On Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in the Dandenong Ranges, our co-design with COLA Studio for Yarra Ranges Council is coming to life. Our project together, to design 5 Nodes for ngurrak barring, is currently being fabricated and built. We have been co-designing the Nodes with COLA. They express the narratives shared by key Knowledge Holders of Country. The Nodes are located in key places across the ngurrak barring walk. Node 3 – Resilience has a new site so yet to kick off fabrication, but here is a sneak peak. Thanks to Webb Welding for welcoming us to their factory and caring for our work and the stories embedded.

Down on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in the Dandenong Ranges, our co-design with COLA Studio for Yarra Ranges Council is coming to life. Our project together, ngurrak barring, is currently being fabricated and built. We have been designing 5 Nodes that express the narratives shared by key Knowledge Holders. They are located in key places across the ngurrak barring walk. Here is Node 2 – Community under construction. Kaylie Salvatori's planting plan is stunning and the little baby plants are taking hold (other than a few vanilla lilies that the cockatoos decided were theirs!). This is the only Node in a town park, all others are in bush settings. Thanks to Webb Welding for welcoming us to their factory where we could see Node 2 (with its 27,000 laser cut holes!) being lovingly fabricated.

Last week we were fortunate to visit Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country, the Dandenong Ranges, where our co-design with COLA Studio for Yarra Ranges Council is coming to life. Our project together, ngurrak barring, is currently being fabricated and built. We have been designing 5 Nodes that express the narratives shared by key Knowledge Holders. They are located in key places across the ngurrak barring walk. Here is a sneak peek of Node 1 – Ways of Seeing. Thanks to Webb Welding for making them so beautiful and welcoming us to their factory.

Working with the First Nations Advisory Committee (FNAC) to the Australian Institute of Architects over the last few years, we are collectively developing and designing a number of resources. https://lnkd.in/gzhFR9Ef The Terms, Concepts and Shared Understandings Resource includes critical definitions and ways of understanding terms and concepts important to working with First Nations Peoples and projects. https://lnkd.in/geqsCKDF The First Nations Terminology Resource is to support built environment colleagues understand and use the right words in the right ways when working with First Nations Peoples and concepts. https://lnkd.in/gAKGs_Mp The Protecting Cultural Knowledge and Intellectual Property in Built Environments Guidance Notes works in conjunction with the Indigenous cultural authorship and intellectual property Acumen, authored by @scb_legal for the Institute. The aim of the Guidance Notes are to provide in depth practical advice, in this instance, about how to protect cultural knowledge that may be shared in built environment projects. https://lnkd.in/gjxjM_EV The Institute's Cultural Safety Policy was authored via deep yarns with members of the FNAC as well as other First Nations built environment professionals. It provides critical guidance to members and the broader industry regarding cultural safety and working in a culturally safe manner with First Nations Peoples. https://lnkd.in/ggd87Ywv With thanks to FNAC for their deep thinking, wisdom, guidance and sharing to ensure these resources are reflective of diverse voices from across the continent and islands. More guides, policies and resources are on the way!

We’re excited to share that the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (the First Building in Bradfield) has received an Australian Good Design Award for Social Impact! Our architectural partner Hassell worked hard to embed Country and Indigenous Knowledges and ideas into the project processes and outcomes as shared by key Dharug Knowledge Holders that we interpreted into design opportunities and outcomes. This has created new benchmarks for adaptable sustainable design, and a future-ready outcome.

The theme of the week is Cultural Appropriation – or worse, Cultural Misappropriation. Acknowledging the deadly animation by Jodie Austin (https://lnkd.in/gH6euTYg), this video was developed about 10 years ago and is still just as relevant. If you are working with concepts, knowledges, wisdom, ideas that have not originated from your own culture, it must be in co-design or close collaboration with those who hold the knowledge and understandings of that culture. For instance, any ideas relating to the Dreaming, Songlines, Totems, Lore, plus any Indigenous Knowledges about Country, or stories about Indigenous Peoples’ lives or experiences all must have mindful and genuine continued engagement of those who introduced those ideas to the project. Otherwise there is risk of appropriating their culture, misreading the interpretation of it into design, and tokenism. This is important right to the end, including when celebrating the project, for instance at the opening, or when giving awards.

It was a pleasure to work on this critical project and include Indigenous voices in the important conversations about housing. Indigenous Peoples experience homelessness at 8.8 times the rate than non-Indigenous Australians. Often Indigenous People live in overcrowded and culturally inappropriate homes that have not been designed with their unique set of values and needs in mind. Importantly, Indigenous Peoples are strongly connected to the Country that the Inner West is within. This connection was very evident in the conversations we had through this project and we were honoured to bring these connections to Country and community into this project alongside Inner West Council and their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group, Hassell, Jenny Rudolph, GML Heritage, and Atelier Ten. View the package here: https://lnkd.in/eh_KgyjK

Djinjama's director Danièle Hromek has authored an article for ArchitectureAu titled Indigenous Spatial Justice. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/g9d5faQj