Co-Design and Engagement

  • South West Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS) Health Hub: Cultural Direction and Guiding Themes, Engagement and Public Art

    (Undertaken with BC and continuing as home language)

    Wardandi Noongar Country, Bunbury, WA

    Project Type: CoDesign, Engagement, Strategic Advice and Project Planning

    This project facilitated the collaborative development of the Health Hub Guiding Themes and Cultural Direction. Through a series of workshops, Elders and First Nations Staff members identified key themes, appropriate cultural knowledge and spatial qualities for the Health Hub. The Cultural direction is being used to guide important decisions across various scales – from strategy and master planning to aesthetic decisions, material selections and public art.

  • Mapping Boodjar: Walyalup Fremantle

    (Undertaken with UNDA and BC)

    Whadjuk Noongar Country, Fremantle, WA

    Partners: NBLCAC, Brave and Curious, Karrda Design, Kim Mahood, The University of Notre Dame, Curtin University, AIATSIS

    The Cultural Mapping project, Mapping Boodjar Walyalup Fremantle, documents and visualises Whadjuk Noongar and non-Aboriginal knowledge and language within an urban landscape.

    Click here to watch the Project Flim!

    Books and Maps Available at NBLCAC!

    For more information, check out the AIATSIS Yumi Sabe Indigenous Research Exchange

  • The House Game - A CoDesign Method

    As part of the research project ‘Not Designed for Us’: A Visual Exploration of Spatial Use in Remote Aboriginal Domiciliary Environments, Holly designed a co-design method, The House Game.

    The House Game is a method that supports architects and community members to design and visually map sociocultural spatial use in the context of both existing Euro-Australian housing and the community member’s ideal home.

    If you would like more information about this method, please get in touch.

    Book Chapter

Research and Sense Making

  • Socio spatial analysis of the design and lived experiences of residential aged care models: A qualitative study of traditional and small household typologies. (Undertaken while at UNDA)

    Wadawurrung & Dja Dja Country, Bunurong & Wadawurrung Country, Whadjuk Noongar Country

    Project Type: Applied Research

    Collaborators: Prof Sarah McGann - Deakin University and Prof Caroline Bulsara - The University of Notre Dame Australia.

    Project Partners: The University of Notre Dame Australia, Deakin University, Mercy Aged and Community Care.

     Industry-linked, interdisciplinary project that evaluated the connection between the design of different residential aged care spatial models, the residents’ ability to ‘find home’ and Quality of Life (QoL) themes. The project addresses the gap in contemporary socio-spatial, lived experience research and the implications of different building typologies on resident QoL and their ability to ‘find home.’ The project outcome provides practical insights into how buildings might be improved to enhance QoL through key spatial strategies developed within future building design briefs.

    Summary of Key Findings

    Academic Journal Article

  • ‘Not Designed for Us’: A Visual Exploration of Spatial Use in Remote Aboriginal Domiciliary Environments 

    Wangi Country, Laverton, WA 

    Project Type: Participatory Research

    This research project explored cultural expression through sociocultural spatial use patterns within remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. Through this project a novel visual co-design method, The House Game was developed. The House Game is a method that allows members of Aboriginal communities to collaborate with the architect to visually map sociocultural spatial use in the context of both existing Euro-Australian housing typologies and in the collaborators’ ideal house. 

  • Finding Country, Finding Home: Sociocultural spatial analysis of the design and lived experience of Aboriginal residential aged care.

    Yawuru Country, Broome, WA

    Project type: Participatory Research

    Collaborators: Anna Dwyer

    Partners: UNDA, NBY, Southern Cross Care

    An industry-linked, interdisciplinary project that explores the connection between the building, how residents are expressing their identities and re-establishing ‘home’, and maintaining connections to the Country.

    Research findings will be published soon…