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Nguluway DesignInc

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Australia
Sydney, NSW
Nguluway DesignInc

Nguluway DesignInc is a Sydney-based design firm on Gadigal land, of the Eora nation. We bring toget

21/09/2022

Building cultural awareness and cultural safety within our organisation underpins the work we do. Today Director Craig Kerslake facilitated a cultural sharing workshop with a small group of our team.

We run these workshops regularly, and encourage all staff to attend. The 60 minute session is relaxed and conversational, yet provides an introduction to really important topics such as cultural protocols, notions of Country and Belonging for First Australians, cultural practices, types of knowledge and who holds them, as well as showing sone examples of how to connect with Country through architectural projects. The session counts for 1CPD point for our registered architects.

To loosen the mind everyone is encouraged to make origami creations during the workshop.

07/09/2022

Nguluway DesignInc was approached by a member of the Mutitjulu community to design an alternative housing concept more reflective and suitable for the Anangu people in Central Australia.

The current housing stock lacked cultural belonging, and often suffered vandalism. Our aim was to provide a dwelling design for a particular community member that imbued cultural protocols and sensibilities as an example of better design solutions.

Designing from Country at every step, the overall planning considers social dynamics such as extended family connections, male and female specific gender spaces, indoor and outdoor living and sleeping and a way of connecting built form to ‘Grandmother.’

The response was to layer spaces around the cultural idea of journey. An experiential hierarchy was established starting from the point of arrival and carried through into more private introspective spaces.

A central covered deck acts as an arrival point with a semi-public quality, whilst creating both connection and separation to two separate living spaces. Alternate sleeping and living options are now viable for guests with seats that can transform into sleepout beds, and options for people to sleep on the open deck to take advantage of the cool breezes or to adhere to cultural protocols of being separate to certain family members.

A womens business verandah was created with views to Uluru. This is a special place for a grandmother to teach her granddaughter art, weaving and other ‘business’ of which men are not privy to.

The community requested that wherever possible, materials and construction be kept local. As a result, the design is based on sand bricks and thick earth walls that could be made by local community members from the sand found adjacent to the site.

A structural system of portal frames could be erected and the roof installed as the first building elements which offer a shaded building platform to work under. Beyond this the walls would be progressively formed with the raw material being expressed internally and externally as the finished expression of Country.

31/08/2022

Nguluway Designinc worked with City West Housing Corporation and AJ+C to design the landscape for an affordable housing development in Rockdale, Dharawal Country.

Applying ‘Designing from Country’ methodologies to this urban site resulted in a series of surprising spaces where residents and visitors can connect with each other and their environment to gather, grow, reflect and thrive. Values of family, community and the natural environment—which underpin Indigenous cultures—are key drivers of the design.

23/08/2022

Check out this month’s Architecture Bulletin for Nguluway DesignInc Director Craig Kerslake’s piece on Belonging to Country:

‘Within our practice we aim to amplify the voice of Australia’s First Peoples, extending into the fabric of the built environment to inform architectural expression in a vibrant and engaging way.’

‘Architecture is unique. It connects environmental, economic, social and political networks. It is intermeshed with market forces, policies, regulations and communities… I propose that in Australia, collectively, architectural thinking has the power to challenge the footholds of liberal capitalism and to reframe the priority of the individual.’

Get your hands on a copy to read the full piece.

Australian Institute of Architects

22/08/2022

Aunty's House rethinks the spatial planning of medium density residential design to bring community, health and support to the fore.

Applying a designing from Country methodology, the design responds to the broad definition of ‘family’ in Aboriginal communities, this concept facilitates connection and care across households through a layering of spacial zones.

The ground floor podium hosts a range of services to support the health and wellbeing of those living in the development as well as the broader community. A women’s health clinic, legal aid centre, community cafe and corner store provide social spaces and support services.

Link in bio for more info.

15/08/2022

Located in Dubbo at the heart of the Wiradjuri Nation, our concept design for the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre applies a ‘designing from Country’ methodology, engaging with Traditional Custodians to understand and appropriately integrate stories in to the design.

Architecture, landscape and interior design overlap and interlink to create a place where visitors and the local community can come together to learn and connect with each other, with history and with the land.

As the Wiradjuri Nation is entwined with a close relationship with their three rivers, the Yindyamarra River is proposed to take visitors through a journey of discovery of belonging and connection—to each other, and to Grandmother Earth. ‘Yindyamarra’ is a Wiradjuri word that means to go quietly, respectfully and with honour. On the bend of the Yindyamarra River a dry sand river bed provides a Nguluway Place.

Link in bio for more info.

08/08/2022

The Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) is a new collaborative research and manufacturing facility in Western Sydney, and is a key feature of the Australia’s newest industry and innovation precinct.

Featuring a manufacturing hall and collaborative workspaces, the facility will bring businesses, engineers and researchers together to develop, scale up and commercialise new technologies.

Applying Designing from Country methodologies, we connected with Traditional Knowledge Holders to understand stories of ‘Wianamatta’, Sweet Water Country—the waters that connect and shape the Cumberland Plains—which has become a central concept in the design.

Like the waters of Wianamatta, people flow across the land, wearing a path over time that tells of the movement, carrying knowledge and stories on flowing songlines. Our vision for the site is beautifully responsive to the flows of water and people across the landscape.

The built form of the ARMF promotes both reciprocity and responsibility for Country, and like water promotes the flow of cutting edge research and innovation which can be understood as an extension of the landscape rather than an imposition upon it.

Link in bio for more info!

01/06/2022

Last night and hosted a deeply engaging panel discussion on 'Ensuring First Nations Stories Continue into the Build' at our Sydney Studio.

Chaired by Damien Barnes with speakers Mat Cornwell, Niki Warden, Craig Kerslake Wiradjuri Nation and Susan Moylan-Coombs, the panel touched on a wide range of incredibly important topics around the challenges and successes of integrating First Nations stories into the built environment, as well a broader questions of equity and truth-telling.

Some of the points discussed include:
- the fundamental importance of relationships;
- the importance of working with Custodians from the very beginning of a project, and taking the time to build trust;
- 'consultation fatigue' among communities;
- embracing the diverse, rich, dynamic and sometimes unexpected ways of telling First Nations stories;
- deciding which stories are told in which places;
- who has the right to tell stories, and how the IP of stories is protected and owned by the community;
- the need to address housing and infrastructure needs of First Nations people so communities can stay on Country;
- the need to support First Nations communities through education and employment in the design and construction industry;
- how to create 'safe spaces' within organisations for First Nations people to work.

With an overarching theme of 'Be Brave, Make Change', our panel also talked about how they are each being brave, and the changes they are facilitating within their spheres.

We thank the panel and everyone who came to this very special event.

Address

Level 12, 126 Phillip Street
Sydney, NSW
2000

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

https://nguluway.designinc.com.au/

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