On 9 November, the Indigenous Architecture: Transforming & Transformed Symposium will bring together a stellar cast of Indigenous architects and academics from Canada, New Zealand, the Pacific and Australia alongside their non-Indigenous colleagues, to discuss the transformation, application and investigation of contemporary Indigenous architectures.

Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island, by James Davidson Architect. Photo: Toby Scott.

Contemporary Indigenous architectures around the world are transformed traditions. These diverse architectures were disrupted by global colonial practices altering Indigenous land ownership, lifeways, worldviews, cultures, belief systems and built environments. Indigenous architectures transformed dynamically through changed modes of cultural production, transmission and permission into newly evolved types that currently prevail. The process of transformation has a starting date, but in several ways, it is incomplete and ongoing for Indigenous peoples and their cultures and for nation states. New architectures have emerged as Indigenous expressions of cultural beliefs of place and more diverse engaged nations have developed. These buildings mimic global shifts in architecture, yet reflect reconstituted and reinvented ideas of Indigenous place and space. They are rewriting postcolonial space and imaginatively transforming postcolonial nations, but to whose benefit, and to what end?

The symposium will feature contributors to the Handbook of Contemporary Indigenous Architecture (Springer 2018) and special guests.

Participants include:
Professor Deidre Brown (University of Auckland)
Associate Professor David Fortin (Laurentian University, Canada)
Mr Daniel J. Glenn (Seven Directions Architects, Seattle)
Dr Albert L. Refiti (Auckland University of Technology)
Ms Karamia Müller (University of Auckland)
Mr Andrew Lane (Indij Design, Gordonvale)
Dr Charmaine ‘Ilaiu Talei (Kramer Ausenco Architects)
Ms Carroll Go-Sam (UQ)
Professor Elizabeth Grant (University of Canberra & UQ)
Dr Kelly Greenop (UQ)
Professor Paul Memmott (UQ)

Practitioners, students and the public are invited to hear:

  • The latest developments in Indigenous architecture in Australia and overseas
  • Best practice examples from leading Indigenous practitioners
  • Analysis and reception of recent architecture made for Indigenous people and communities
  • Discussions on what constitutes Indigenous architecture, including analysis of digital spaces, women’s perspectives and the use of Indigenous identities in architecture in Australia and overseas

When

8.30am–4.30pm
Friday, 9 November 2018

Where

The State Library of Queensland
South Bank, Brisbane

Cost

Professionals $120 + GST
Students $40 + GST

CPD

5 CPD points

Registrations

You can book tickets and find more information here.

Please download the brochure or full day program for more details.

This event is convened by the University of Queensland’s Indigenous Design Place, and is in association with the Australian Institute of Architects.

Thumbnail photo: Ngoolark at Edith Cowen University by JCY. Photo: Peter Bennetts.