Yungkurrinthi Inparrila wins AILA Award
We are thrilled that the Yungkurrinthi Inparrila Cultural Gathering Space has received a Landscape Architecture Award for Cultural Heritage at this year’s Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) SA Awards!
Located at Flinders University, Yungkurrinthi Inparrila is a place where culture, learning, landscape and celebration are intrinsically intertwined to convey a multi-layered and multidimensional gathering space. Led by WAX team members Warwick Keates & Blake Lovas, it was an honour to have the project recognised for its collaborative and authentic co-design process.
Thank you and congratulations to our client Flinders University, Uncle Lewis, the staff and students of Yungkurrinthi Mande and our exceptional project team Sarah Constructions Meinhardt Australia Adelaide Innovative Landscaping, All Access Civil and Bargain Steel Centre on creating a place where culture, learning, landscape, celebration and curation are intrinsically intertwined to convey a multi-layered and multidimensional gathering space.
Awards citation:
“The creation of a new external cultural teaching space on a difficult site is the result of a collaborative and authentic design process at Flinders University.
Working with the Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research, Kaurna Elders and students, Wax Design facilitated the design and development of the new space, on a steep site within existing bushland adjacent to the existing Centre.
The extensive process of engagement provided deep insights and direction for the space, with a theme to ensure the experience is that of ‘walking on something that is living’, resulting in a series of circles to represent a connection to Country. Access for all was also a key design objective, with places to sit, stand and be in nature, on nature.
Minimising western approaches to cut and fill to attain access for all, the design responds with a series of steel and mesh platforms that float over the site, creating a central space on ground for gathering, cooking and smoking ceremonies, with views across to the Gulf St Vincent.
The effective design approach resulted in a short construction period, minimising disruptions to the area and enabling the realisation of a 30 year vision, and as described by Associate Professor Ali Gumillya Baker, a Mirning Woman, that the new Cultural Space is the ‘first step in the decolonisation of the Flinders University’.
Lastly, thank you to AILA SA for the recognition and ongoing support of our industry.
Congratulations to all award winners.