Winter - Australian Institute of Architects

used as a registration or marking on thisterritory.How is the approach to an urban TAFE,different to suburban/rural sites?We approached this TAFE in a reasonablyurban setting as a challenge of activatingas many street frontages as possiblegiven the scale of the building and natureof the teaching programs. In previouswork on suburban or rural sites thesebuildings tend to be a little more in theround and consequently their shape cantend to conform more to the naturalconditions (trees or hills or cul-de-sacentries) rather than pushed hard upagainst the street boundaries. Oneinteresting constraint we battled withon this site in particular was the factthat the underground road tunnel runs tothe north of the site requiring us to curband set back the North façade striationsto limit the structural loading over thetunnel lid.26THE ARCHITECT 2012 ISSUE 002culture as a tension worth exploring inthe project, both aspects of which arerepresented in the functions within thebuilding (engineering technicians forthe mining industry and the indigenouscentre). In terms of the immediatecontext we found again the idea of thelocal indigenous population inhabitingNorthbridge and the way that the TAFEis supporting their culture througheducation as being something worththinking about when we explored anarrative for the building. It is thistension of the two cultures meeting inthe building that informed our design.We thought of such things as stratifiedopen cut mines, precious metals, turtleshells, black sticks, metal mining bridges,black and white striped shadows inthe atria, termite mounds in the reddesert as a rich visual and programmaticnarrative to inform the aesthetics of thebuilding.Can you elaborate on the indigenouscentre, and how it relates to the rest ofB2?The indigenous centre is an embeddedprogram within the B2 Social Heartspace. It provides a focal/gathering pointfor indigenous members of the TAFEpopulation as a stepping stone to thebroader TAFE environment. The centreis located in the Social Heart in a waythat gives it a degree of autonomy whilstalso providing high levels of integration.The project team consulted withstudents and teachers at Central TAFEto better understand their requirements.For instance, within the centre is anoutdoor recreation space contiguouswith the broader meeting environment.Importantly the indigenous centre hasa quasi reception point as a welcomingaddress for anyone who wishes to usethe facility. Again, the turtle icon isThe grand staircase hard up on thestreet, individual shop fronts alongWilliam Street and the awnings alongAberdeen are all very ‘civic’ moves. Wasthis the intention?We conceived of the building in theearly design stages as very much acivic project, connecting to the existingbuildings to the south across AberdeenStreet, down past the State Library andfinally past the new Cultural Centre tothe City. The massive ‘excavated’ entryporch and the grand stairs attempt tocreate a large urban forecourt acrossto the existing TAFE buildings. Thecanopies connect from this large civicentry along Aberdeen Street mimicking,and in line with, the prominent shopfrontcanopy culture prevalent in Northbridgeparticularly along William Street. Thesignificant entry also on the corner ofWilliam and Aberdeen Streets providesa highly articulated gesture to signal