Chris Fox
Bachelor of Architecture and Environments
132
(L) Ruby Matthews, ‘Common Ground’. This project exhibits Sydney Observatory rethought as an oral history museum through the lens of finding common ground between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians under the stars. Two non-Indigenous constellations, Crux and Scorpius, lay at the head and tail respectively of the Indigenous star group – Dark Emu. Other senses are also employed throughout the site with native plants making up scent (lemon myrtle, mint bush), touch (grass tree, sandpaper fig) and taste (lilly-pilly, finger lime) gardens. White sandstone and copper roofing eventually show their age and story with time.
(R) Alessandro Pinzin, ‘Indigenous Oral History’. Inspired by historical Indigenous trails, Sydney’s harbour system and Indigenous Australian ideas of connecting to Country, the design is a continuous trail, integrated into a new wetland ecosystem with open air and light structures at widenings, intersections and dead ends. At these areas people learn and engage in Indigenous cultural practices whilst being immersed by the native ecosystem. Notions of interior and exterior have been blurred to create a seamless and connected feeling between places of gathering and the environment.
