After the existing Gunditjmara Wellbeing & Cultural Centre sustained fire damage, the challenge involved redesigning a new Aboriginal community centre.
The centre was to offer a range of services to community members including GP access as well as assistance for dieting, dental, psychology, play groups, foster care and youth justice. The centre also supports the community experiencing family violence, drug & alcohol abuse or poor social and emotional wellbeing.
By proposing to demolish the existing building and construct a new centre that consolidated several disjointed properties into one unified centre that caters the needs for the local Aboriginal community.
The highly visible site covers 920m² with a state of the art design that is unique and culturally understanding. In order to reap full potential of the site, the building was designed on three levels. The building covers three distinct services that are easily accessible to the public: Administration and Human Resources Office; Community and Cultural Centre and Health & Wellbeing Centre.
Indigenous art and culture inspired the external design with organic shapes, colours and textures that reflect nature. For example, the unique curved roof shapes (which resemble Aboriginal shields) are also designed to reflect the undulating landscape and blend into the surrounding environment.
