Remotely Sustainable focuses on a specific line of work that could be called 'remote Indigenous architecture'. I define this as architecture for Aboriginal clients who are the traditional owners of their homelands, where these projects are built. This context is critical because the issues I discuss may be relevant to other Indigenous communities in Australia. However, the customs, culture, bureaucracy and conditions mean I must caution anyone in applying any of these ideas to another community without deep consideration of and good consultation with that community. The context also extends to the broader framework of federal and state governance. As architects and citizens it seems there is little we can do to impact on these systems, but if the government and agencies do not make appropriate decisions, there is little chance of improving the outcomes for Aboriginal people. Working in this field as an architect is extremely hard. There are almost insurmountable problems that arise from ineffective government agencies, difficulties in communicating with clients, extreme distances to travel, physical discomfort to be endured and very little in the way of fees to perform these tasks. The difficulties begin at the consultancy stage and continue throughout the project until occupation by the clients. There is great difficulty in ensuring that the builders and tradespeople do their jobs properly and ensuring they return to sites to fix defective work is problematic. The budgets allocated to Indigenous housing projects are often well below that required to produce buildings that satisfy the clients' needs and expectations. Finally, there is little appreciation of the work that architects do in these communities, possibly because in some cases architects do their job badly. This Master of Architecture Project uses case study buildings by iredale pedersen hook architects to reveal some of the difficulties faced when delivering these projects, in order to encourage the development of better solutions in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/230091 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Pedersen, Finn Tingleff, p@iredalepedersenhook.com |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Architecture & Design |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Finn Tingleff Pedersen |
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