Reconnecting Canberra

How can architecture and urban interventions act as a vessel of and advocate for decolonisation and cultural healing? Ancestral remains and stolen artefacts of Indigenous Australians have been held in institutions since the 1800s, repatriation of these remains and artefacts is essential for national healing.

By challenging the present-day city of Canberra, by using urban interventions to decolonise Lake Burley Griffin and attempting to reconnect Canberra while addressing the city’s historic layers, an inclusive representation of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander People in our nation’s capital is proposed.

Separate and entwining paths represent the complicated relationship of Indigenous people and White Settlers, and placement within the parliamentary triangle allows for direct connection to national monuments, while connecting with and disrupting the Griffin’s Masterplan.

What results is a place of reconciliation, of education, of research and cultural healing, while attempting to grapple with a matter of national importance. This project doesn’t seek to imply it has all the answers, but explores an approach through focus on journey, and urban interventions.