Darwin’s Larrakia Cultural Centre is taking shape, with local Northern Territory firms Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates unveiling their design for the centre.
The architects said the building form will represent an ancestral bird flying over the land, protecting Country and its people.
“A bird-shaped roof hovers over the site with generous eaves providing deep shade,” they said in a statement. “Feather-like screens protect the walls and glazing from the harsh tropical sun while creating interesting shadow pattern and allowing natural breezes to flow through.”
A solar array will contribute to the bird form by creating a feathered texture from the aerial perspective.
The centre will be located on the Stokes Hill Wharf waterfront, adjacent to a sacred site of the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of Darwin and surrounds. A long-held ambition of the Indigenous-led Larrakia Development Corporation, the centre is intended to showcase Larrakia culture and history, and enable Larrakia people to continue caring for the land and sea.
Larrakia Cultural Centre by Rossi Architecture, Susan Dugdale and Associates and the Larrakia Working Group.
At its heart will be an exhibition space featuring interactive displays and housing artifacts repatriated from museums across the country and the globe. The centre will be both a museum and art gallery, and will also incorporate classrooms to be used for language and culture classes for the Larrakia and the visiting public. There will also be a specialized Larrakia restaurant, retail spaces and leasable office space.
The building form will be broken down into a northern and southern wing, with a central double-height breezeway strengthening the experience between sacred site and the sea.
The all-important landscape design features the three main habitat types found within Larrakia Country: monsoon rainforest and waterfall, savannah and coastal. Each of the habitats will incorporate educational play spaces, with mist sprays, salt and freshwater ponds and a waterfall providing cooling play elements and natural water for cultural maintenance and ceremony.
Rossi Architecture and Susan Dugdale and Associates were announced as the architects of the centre in February. They are working alongside the Larrakia Working Group, which is made up of members of the Larrakia community, including Mark Motlop, Bill Risk, June Mills, Helen Secretary, Kelvin Costello, Chrissy Jenner, Joe Raymond and Nadine Lee. Larrakia artists will also be engaged, and their art and designs will become part of the fabric of the building and landscape.
GHD developed the functional brief for the centre with input from the GHD Woodhead architectural team.
Larrakia Development Corporation said in a statement that the detailed design had reached the 30 percent completion milestone, and that it should reach completion over the second half of the year.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
