The WA Museum Boola Bardip is perfectly located to become a place for gathering. The project provided an opportunity create an external environment which could knit together the rich cultural legacy of the Whadjuk people with the existing urban fabric developed in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

The design response makes a strong connection to country and in particular the landscape of the place before it was urbanised. The landscape design provided a canvas to tell stories and celebrate the connection to this land and the activities of the Whadjuk people.

In tandem with this connection to country is a design which integrates strongly with the existing precinct character – that of both modernist and colonial architecture. The design team sought to reinforce the strength of the Perth city grid emphasising the creation of built form edges to the cultural precinct.

At the heart of WA Museum Boola Bardip is an outdoor space which gifts a new 24/7 civic space – The City Room. The space is covered and is intentionally uncluttered facilitating flexible event planning. Benefitting from the upper floor Museum galleries the shaded space naturally draws in people from the Cultural Centre.

Following an intensive design process with Whadjuk Elders, a modern interpretation of country was defined for the internal landscape. The importance of land, fire and water were expressed through a weaving, banded landscape. The bands of paving provide a transition from the contextual public realm through the City Room and deep into the heart of the project courtyards.

The movement through the site is further reinforced with the increased intensification of soft landscape – starting with paved circulation and gathering spaces at Museum Street and the City Room progressing to raised planters of endemic and native species by the Old Gaol Courtyard, through to water’s edge trees in the café alfresco.

WA Museum Boola Bardip’s commitment to telling stories of the Whadjuk people throughout the Museum has provided an opportunity for an immersive experience in a conceptual landscape as part of the Museum City Room courtyard with four embedded cultural elements of dance, meeting, knowledge and landscape.

The four overlaid elements share a commonality of circular form, reflecting the cultural significance of gathering together as groups to share knowledge.
1)Dance Circle – The sandy circle is surrounded by fourteen timber seats to formally represent each Noongar group and an ‘earth’ floor with a fire pit for ceremonies.
2)Knowledge Pit – a circular forum located under the protection of the elevated link with direct proximity to the Learning Studio functions, providing an inviting space for learning and group engagement.
3)Welcome Place – located on the edge of the City Room, signified by the historic vine at the western end of the Old Gaol creating a moment to meet, greet and orientate.
4)Indigenous Garden – circular mound of culturally significant planting providing protection to remnant archaeology. A narrative around endemic food and medicinal production is subtly presented in a display of native seasonal planting.