A new home for art and culture on Badu Island

Badu Island’s artists are recognised around the world, yet the building in which they work is hot, poorly ventilated and unsuitable for storing cultural artefacts and fragile art materials. A proposed new art centre aims to provide a setting better suited to their work and to the life of the wider community.

Architects Without Frontiers is supporting a collaboration between AWF Network Partners SJB and Tract Consultants to design the new centre in Australia’s Torres Strait. The proposal brings spaces for artistic practice together with cultural, social and economic opportunities.

A place to make and care for art

SJB’s building design incorporates workshops and studios, metal casting facilities, a keeping place for cultural materials, administration spaces, a gallery and a café. Together, these functions respond to the different needs of an arts centre: creating work, caring for it, displaying it and welcoming people to experience it.

Better ventilation and a design responsive to the local climate are central to the proposal. Addressing the limitations of the existing building will help create more suitable conditions for artists and for the materials and cultural objects held within the centre.

The project’s purpose extends beyond providing additional rooms. It is an opportunity to bring related activities into a setting designed around the community’s artistic and cultural life.

Culture beyond the building

Tract’s landscape design includes an outdoor ceremonial space with opportunities for gathering, dance and performance, outdoor cooking and quiet enjoyment. These spaces extend the centre’s role beyond its enclosed rooms, providing places for people to come together in different ways.

Architecture and landscape are being considered as parts of the same community setting. The workshops, gallery and shared outdoor spaces each contribute to a proposal that supports both the production of art and the connections through which culture is shared.

The new centre is intended to strengthen economic and cultural opportunities for the Badu community. Through the expertise of SJB and Tract, AWF is helping develop a proposal that recognises the standing of Badu’s artists and the importance of an appropriate place for their work to continue.