Project Details
The Riawunna Aboriginal Education Centre is part of a larger University Faculty of Arts development, located on a prominent site at the main entry to the Newnham campus. The Riawunna Centre is a striking metal and timber clad curvaceous building set in its own garden. The plan shape is pincer like, with a smooth curving exterior enclosing a protected north-facing courtyard. Encircling the building is a field of totem rocks, set in a sea of shell grits. The landscape setting is of special significance, with the design of the garden being undertaken collaboratively with the local indigenous community, and led by landscape architects Jim Sinatra and Phil Murphy. To quote from one of the workshop sessions, "…for the garden symbolises the coming together of people, which is represented in the placement of rocks and plants from different areas in Tasmania."
The building contains staff offices, a community room, resources centre, archival space, seminar and computer facilities. The main public spaces all have direct access to the outdoor courtyard, which is constantly used for many community activities.
Concept
The curvaceous form of the Riawunna building is derived from the idea of wrapping space around an outdoor courtyard, as this was a fundamental requirement of the Riawunna community. The courtyard then becomes the focus of community activity, since all internal spaces directly interface with it. The building turns its back to the south and west, against the winter weather, and opens itself to the north and east for solar gain. To reinforce the notion of the tough, protecting exterior and soft, welcoming interior, the outer curving skin of the building has been clad in sheet steel, whilst the inner courtyard has been clad in coloured sheet plywood. Equally the building’s form can be read as an incomplete crustacean or seed pod, where the outer shell has been broken open to reveal the soft interior.
The roof form is a warped skillion of varying pitches inclined towards the inner courtyard and pitched off the outer raked curving wall. A repetitive radial rafter system provides support for the roof. It also has been exposed to the interior, to express the logic of the roof and reinforce the warped form of the building.
Structure and Materials
Given the complex shape and profile of the building, it was ideally suited to be fully timber framed, on a concrete base slab. For ease of construction, the structural system used was F5 Radiata Pine traditional stud framed walling with ‘Hybeam’ roof rafters laid out radially. The raking and curving outer wall, is made up of two opposing stud framed walls – an inner vertical wall and an outer sloping wall (with varying width cavity). It is clad in 20 mm external grade plywood as a bracing layer, with 1.2 mm galvanised folded steel sheeting over. Internally, walls are lined in plasterboard.
The inner courtyard walls are single stud framed as they are vertical, but with a raking top plate. External cladding is Carter Holt Harvey ‘Ecoply’ Texture 2000 with a coloured stain finish. To the north facing sides of the courtyard there is a pergola, at window head height. This is constructed from dressed untreated Tasmanian Celery Top, selected for its durability and appearance (to be in contrast to the brightly coloured ‘Ecoply’).
Internally ceilings are generally Villaboard fixed on top of the exposed ‘Hybeam’ rafters, which are stained black for contrast. Below that are floating sections of Hoop Pine plywood panels. These panels are designed to allow all light fittings and fire detection equipment to be fully concealed flush, and to add more texture and warmth to the interior.
Also internally there is an exposed ‘Hyspan’ laminated pine beam, which features in the main corridor. The Reception desk and other selected joinery components have Rose Maple timber veneer.
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