Winner: Community and Urban Scale Category
Location: Dja Dja Wurrung Country, Bendigo, VIC
Client: Court Services Victoria
Typology: Civic
Site Area: 900m2 (Forecourt and adjacent street frontage)
Traditional Custodians: Dja Dja Wurrung
Owner: Court Services Victoria
Landscape Architect: ASPECT Studios
Engineer: WSP in Australia
Dja Dja Wurrung Artists: Aunty Marilyne Nicholls and Rebecca Philips
The design of the Bendigo Law Courts forecourt provided ASPECT Studios and Court Services Victoria the opportunity to showcase a culturally appropriate, genuine and authentic engagement process with Dja Dja Wurrung people, the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land.
The Project was informed by a deep understanding of Country – the sky, stars, the wind, the earth, the water, and what lies beneath – and their interrelationship with the animals, plants and humans inhabiting the landscape. It includes an inlaid artwork, titled Yarram Yarram Mindi, that was collaboratively developed between the artists and ASPECT, who ensured the artists’ vision was realised. The design is foremost an expression of the integration of culture and ecology, embodying the spirit of place in an urban setting and exploring how people experience and understand Country.
To approach the law courts, you need to walk across Country – even though Country has been fully built over, it is still present. This understanding provides a sense of calmness, particularly for visitors whose journey to the courts may be stressful.
The overall artwork spans approximately 50m. When experienced in its entirety, the narrative it conveys – through the layering of story, materiality and landscape – provides an exceptional and moving experience.
Study Author: Samantha Smith
How is it Biophilic?
Cultural Connection: Expression of Indigenous culture inherently tied to Country, paying respectful homage to cultural heritage and incorporating collective memory through design. The key biophilic design strategies employed were developed through extensive collaboration with Dja Dja Wurrung artists from a bio-cultural perspective.
Natural Materials: Local boulders were used throughout the project to authentically evoke the notion of mountains of Dja Dja Wurrung Country. The rocky outcrops used crafted granite boulders to provide informal seating and organic forms to edge garden beds.
Biomorphic Forms and Patterns: Naturalistic shapes and forms that represent both tangible and intangible aspects of nature, including expressions in the landscape design of Country (rocky outcrops), water (a bespoke drainage feature), smoke (the importance of the smoking ceremony expressed in the paving pattern), and vegetation (a local indigenous planting palette).
Natural Motifs: Animal footprints are inlaid in the paving. The footprints represent important animals to the Dja Dja Wurrung, capturing the travel of the animals and reminding us that they too share this Country and have been here for millennia.
Colour: Natural colours were selected for the materials, which included coloured concrete, weathering steel, cast bronze, and stone. The rust-like appearance emphasises the colours of Country and represents deep time.
Complexity and Order: The storytelling narrative inherent in the forecourt design acts as both a map and cultural translation, creating order and understanding from something that appears complex. Water is represented in the series of oval-shaped “ponds” that occur along the body of the Serpent.
