Yutjuwala Djwarr translates roughly to “Little Heaven”. Centre cultural advisor Robyn Munuŋgurr said it’s a place of harmony and comfort, a home, where clients can spend their final time on earth before heading to what she described as “Big Heaven”.
Yutjuwala Djiwarr – Nhulunbuy Flexible Aged Care Facility is a 32 bed aged care with 1 palliative care bed and a 4 chair dialysis unit. Located in Nhulunbuy on Yolŋu Country in North East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The site is located 1042km from the nearest city Darwin by road most of which is dirt.
The road is cut off 6 months of the year by wet season flooding leaving the only access to Nhulunbuy a 1hr flight from Darwin or a two day barge for materials from Darwin. East Arnhem Land covers an area of 97,00km2 with a population of 16,000, 12,000 of which are Yolŋu. Yolŋu people represent some of the most traditional Aboriginal people in Australia who are highly connected to Country and culture.
They are made up of 16 clans, 8 communities and countless homelands. It is in this context this residential aged care project, the very first aged care in East Arnhem Land, was designed in deep collaboration with prospective residents, Yolŋu elders, families and organisations. This was a project that Yolŋu people had been advocating for, for 20 years to stop elders having to leave country for care and inevitably pass away off Country. This dislocation of elders has an enormous impact on the continuity of culture and community cohesion.
The participatory design process for this project took more than 3 years. It was essential in developing the design of a new type of aged care that is highly culturally appropriate, connected to country and a place where elders can continue to play a central role in the practice of culture with their families and community. This required multiple visits to prospective residents and their families over the vast areas of East Arnhem Land to seek their collaboration. It was this engagement which enabled a new approach to aged care to begin to be developed. It was the voices of elders and their families which validated the outside the box thinking and deviations from the usual aged care guidelines.
Time and repetition was a key factor in this with the design slowly and patiently emerging. The site selection was the starting point for collaboration. Previous iterations of the project had stalled around the inappropriate site selection. The participatory design process enabled a new approach to be taken. Numerous sites were considered across a large geographical area. These were all tested with stakeholders and overtime a consensus emerged.
This is not to say everyone agreed but the broad involvement meant that there was broad support and that the site was culturally appropriate. The outcome of this collaboration is a project which has been designed by Yolŋu elders for Yolŋu people with the project team acting as facilitators. The outcome is a design which includes a range of features that engender cultural appropriateness such as: – De-Institutionalisation: There are no corridors in resident areas and all residential beds have 2 or 3 views to the outside. Rooms are arranged like palm fronds to create separation, identity and facilitate cross ventilation and natural light.
The project is fragmented into a series of buildings to reduce the scale and place them with the landscaping. These buildings are linked by a souring external canopy which captures the sea breeze, naturally ventilates and projects from the elements. The fulcrum of this covered walkway has become a focal point for residents. – Seasonal Habitation: Traditionally Yolŋu use 5 shelters over the 7 seasons to customise habitation to the seasons. The project provides through is geometry and initial veranda spaces provides a multitude of spaces and orientation to support seasonal habitation with the residential aged care construct. – Materials: The project is clad in a mixture of robust colourbond and Darwin Stringybark cladding battens. The timber was milled locally by the Gumatj Corporation mill which is Aboriginal owned and operated. The timber was salvaged from the local mine site in the process of clearing. 20 linear km of timber was used for the project. – Sustainability:
The timber batten façade also serves as a ventilated façade shading the buildings and facilitating natural ventilation. A substantial amount of rooftop solar has been integrated to minimise offsite energy consumption. – Landscaping: The landscaping is an integral part of delivering a culturally appropriate project Most of the plants were propagated by Yolŋu in the local community nursery from seed collected from Country.
This provided a valuable co-construction element to the project enabling broader participation and control. The later is important because it is Yolŋu who decided what plants to use and where. All plants have cultural meaning whether for cultural practice, food or utilisation. Other elements such as men’s and women’s bungal grounds (ceremonial grounds). This project has set a new standard for culturally appropriate residential aged care. A standard which will enable the evolution of this approach on future projects to continue the empowerment of Aboriginal people in how and where their elders are cared for. This has been achieved through deep collaboration, time and iterative design. The outcome is a place for elders to be at home on Country to continue their central role.
Category:ArchitectureYear:2024Location: Nhulunbuy, New Territory, AustraliaArchitects:Kaunitz Yeung ArchitectureLead Architect:David KaunitzClient:Australian Regional and Australian Remote Community Services (ARRCS)Photographers:Brett Boardman