PROJECT #:

PROJECT NAME:

Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre

LOCATION:

Northern Territory, AUSTRALIA

COMPLETION DATE:

1996

ARCHITECT:

Gregory Burgess
P/L Architects
104 Burwood Rd., Hawthorn 3122
Victoria, AUSTRALIA

NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION:

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is sacred to Anangu, the Aboriginal people of central Australia. It is Also an icon for white Australians, embedded deep in the national psyche. To build here, respect for the environment, spiritual as well as physical, was paramount. The Centre was always envisaged as an Anangu place where visitors, Minga, could be invited to share in Anangu culture. It was also the wish of Anangu that the building design express their working together ‘as one’ with the rangers of the Australian Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA) in the joint management of the World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park. The design concept was evolved through a collaborative on-site process over a month in 1990 between the Mutitjulu community, ANCA and the consultant team; a warm trust developed. The site was walked, stories of Uluru were mapped and painted by Anangu men and women, the brief development and the precise siting negotiated. Drawings of the possible building plan were traced with fingers in the red sand by Anangu, along with many lively sketches of the way the visitors would move though the Centre. The Centre in sited about a kilometre to the south of Uluru, just off (but visible from) the main road. It is here that the landscape of the wider plains (sand dunes, desert oaks and spinifex) meets and mixes with that of the Rock (mulga, bloodwood, umbrella bush and bearded grass). Th building was carefully located with minimum disturbance to its setting. The Tjukurpa traditional (law) story of Liru and Kuniya-involving Liru the Poisonous Snake and his battle with Kuniya the Carpet Snake-unfolded around this side of Uluru. In certain features on the Rock, the result of their fatal battle can still be seen. Anangu spoke of the two serpentine buildings as representing Liru and Kuniya watching each other warily across the site of their battle. In the various approaches the Centre appears as a mysterious undulating presence of skin, sinew and shadow emerging an disappearing, looking approaching, withdrawing. Red sand, bloodwood and copper are transformed and animated. Sequence is modulated by contrast: of scale, of light and deep shadow, of openness and opacity, of movement and stillness, of weight and lightness. Throughout this rhythmic play, an elusive resonance develops between the building, the culture, the landscape and the visitor - a living field for the introduction of the senses, the heart and the spirit into the mysteries of Anangu knowledge and wisdom. Anangu has enriched the building enormously by superb Tjukurpa paintings on the sand walls, painted tiles and formed glass which along with ceremonial song and dance cycles, vividly introduce visitors to Anangu perception and culture, before they move off the experience the wider desert landscape. Materials were chosen to satisfy economies of supply, assembly and future repair. The main fabric of the building-including foundations, walls, floors and paths-is stabilized earth made from the desert sand and gravel from the site. Designed to ve energy efficient in this arid zone climate, the building has low running costs because it maximizes natural environmental factors in climate control. Passive energy techniques-massive walls, north lights (shaded in summer) and broad shaded verandahs-are used, with high-tech solar collection, sewage disposal and water recycling. The high mass walls offer a stable internal environment throughout the year. Further shade structures are planned throughout the complex. Through its animated relationship with its powerful site, extensive use of sustainable materials, low energy consumption and its sympathetic responsiveness to both people and the environment, the Centre celebrates the spirit of Anangu culture. This unique integration of indigenous knowledge of nature and traditional land management with western science has proved highly complementary and successful in practice and an inspiration for other initiatives throughout the world. The building opened in October 1995 on the 10th Anniversary of the Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park Title Handback to the traditional owners. Since it has been awarded nationally and published internationally for its architectural qualities, environmental sustain ability and effective cross-cultural collaboration.

I am the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park’s Education, Interpretation and Public Relations Manager. I was involved in the building of the Park’s Interpretive display in the Cultural Centre in 1994-95 and for a year since March 1997 have been working from am office inside the Cultural Centre. The two buildings that make the Cultural Centre services well the five purposes for which it was intended. The Park’s dynamic interpretive display continues to attract excellent feedback on its quality and the insight it conveys. The Maruku Arts gallery and outdoor display area does a good trade as visitors purchase the carved artefacts that were once the essential tools for survival in the arid landscape which are featured in the Park’s display. The two courtyards work well for both functions as places for demonstrating the making of artefacts and the preparation of bush foods. The Ininiti Store Kiosk and Souvenirs has developed a new look in its new premises. The cafe takes advantage of stunning views of Uluru in its everyday eating area and special functions room upstairs. The Cultural Centre is also the launching point for Anangu Tours breakfast and sunset tours. Tourists gather around the ‘touch wall’ outside the Anangu Tours office area from where they are escorted by Anangu guides and translators on the tracks towards Uluru. The multi-purpose area has housed more than a dozen successful exhibitions and many meetings/workshops. It is now a semi permanent workshop and sales space for the Anangu community’s newest commercial enterprise, Walkatjara art and design. This subtle structure nestled in the landscape in the shapes of the ancestral snakes continues to inspire and inform visitors. It embodies traditional Anangu culture but works with and supports the contemporary needs of the Anangu businesses.

1998
KBDA
Award Winner