119 Redfern Street

This project began with a relatively simple brief – to address and meet accessibility compliance in a heritage-listed Post Office building in Redfern that was being converted into a community centre for the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

While undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the building’s social, material and cultural histories, the need for a holistic approach to accessibility become very apparent: one that addressed its colonial history and re-framed it.

How can a place feel culturally safe and inviting? Could this site’s multiple histories be acknowledged and embedded in its fabric? These questions were explored through collective conversations with an assembled project team who brought together Indigenous design perspectives, architectural heritage expertise and community connections, turning a formerly hostile environment into a place that recognises and celebrates Country and community.

The design approach responds to the Indigenous theory and practice of “enoughness”, which Indigenous designer Dr Danièle Hromek of Djinjama describes as “never take more than you need.” Colonial symbols are removed, former additions stripped back, systems restored, raw materials of Country revealed and natural light invited in throughout. A new entry off Redfern Street recalibrates this place, offering a shared path between.