JOINING

CULTURAL ARCHITECTURE MUST JOIN, NOT SEPARATE

Ashley Halliday Architects, Wax Design, the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Kaurna Traditional Owners and Yitpi Yartapuultiku Custodian Group

LOCATION
SA
Yarta Puulti (‘Sleeping Place’), Estuarine Mangrove River System, Port Adelaide,
South Australia, 34.51S 135.30E
Kaurna Yarta

Yitpi Yartapuultiku (the ‘Soul of Port Adelaide’) is located on Yarta Puulti (‘Sleeping Place’), an Estuarine Mangrove River System in Port Adelaide. It is a place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to join and be immersed in Aboriginal culture, to promote a deeper understanding and respect for Country, and to remind us that everything is connected – land, water, sky, cosmos, flora, fauna, body, and spirit.

Kaurna cultural direction required the building should not separate but join. Trails, storylines, and local cultural sites are fluid within and beyond the site, including Tiilbruke, Taltaityai, Lartelare, the Mudlangga to Yertabulti track, and various totems. All trails arrive at the ‘joining place’, a central place at the heart of the site-wide cultural program. The building form is prised apart to form shelter and promote gathering. Seven woven skylights represent a range of key cultural narratives, including the Seven Sisters Dreaming. The long-axis of the building is aligned with ‘Karta’ (Kangaroo Island), and the curved northern end is oriented toward ‘Lartelare’. The portal structure frames views to key cultural reference points through and beyond the site.

participate.cityofpae.sa.gov.au/yitpiyartapuultiku

CLIENT
City of Port Adelaide Enfield


CULTURAL DIRECTION
Kaurna Traditional Owners and Custodians


ARCHITECT/PROJECT LEAD
Ashley Halliday Architects


LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Wax Design


INTERPRETIVE DESIGN/WAYFINDING
Exhibition Studios


FILM MAKING
Living Stories


PROJECT MANAGER
Moto Projects


CULTURAL DESIGN FACILITATOR
Brave & Curious


DESIGN COLLABORATORS
PT Design, Lucid, RLB, Cirqa,
Wavelength, Golder, Succession
Ecology, Resonate, Eatscape, D Squared, Buildsurv