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Architecture says black military service matters

Michael Bleby
Michael BlebyDeputy property editor

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A Canberra memorial to Indigenous soldiers who have served in Australian forces – many before they were even recognised as citizens – took out the top ACT award for architecture on Friday night.

For Our Country, a pavilion at the Australian War Memorial with a ceremonial chamber for the depositing of soil from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations, won the Canberra Medallion as well as the territory's top award for small-project architecture.

Artist and designer Daniel Boyd at the unveiling of For our Country at the Australian War memorial in March 2019. Karleen Minney

"It tells a very important story, of potentially lost or forgotten history," said jury chairman Marcus Graham.

The memorial, designed by artist Daniel Boyd and Melbourne-based Edition Office Architects, has a rear curved wall of rammed earth and a front wall – or veil – of fritted glass that lets light inside the pavilion in patterns that change throughout the day as the sun moves.

"It really makes you think about yourself within the landscape. It’s a quite beautiful and technically precise work," Mr Graham said.

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"When standing outside looking towards the veil, it’s designed to get a wonderful reflection from Mt Ainslie behind you. You can see yourself within the reflection of Mt Ainslie."

The fritted glass veil against the backdrop of Canberra's Mt Ainslie. Ben Hosking

Even as Black Lives Matter protests planned across Australia this weekend show the country still struggles to erase historical inequalities and disadvantage, the award is a reminder that thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have served in armed forces from Australia since the pre-Federation Boer War, in both world wars and through to Afghanistan, Iraq, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands.

"Only four or five generations after the arrival of the British First Fleet, having endured discrimination, brutal social exclusion, and violence, many Indigenous Australians denied their Aboriginality and kinship to enlist, serve, fight, suffer, and die for the young nation that had taken so much from them," Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said.

"Having enlisted from a desperately unequal Australia, many found military service to be their first experience of equality. In Australia’s Defence forces they were equals – equal in life and equal in death.”

The ACT Law Courts by Lyons connects two existing court buildings with its forecourt and entry way. Peter Bennetts

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In front of the pavilion lies a basalt rock gathering space with ceremonial fire pit and a cast bronze chamber for the depositing of soil from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations from across Australia. The memorial also took out the Pamille Berg Award for Art in Architecture and the Robert Foster Award for Light in Architecture.

Mr Boyd also worked with British architect Sir David Adjaye to design a new $19 million public square on Sydney's George Street.

Lemon Wedge House by Philip Leeson Architects won the ACT's top award for new house architecture. Anthony Basheer

The ACT Law Courts by Lyons won the territory's top awards for public architecture and interior architecture.

"There were a lot of urban and technical challenges," Mr Graham said. "That building ... united the existing magistrates court to one side and the supreme court to the other side, largely due to the entry canopy and forecourt that sits between them."

The top award for new house architecture went to Lemon Wedge House in Curtin by Philip Leeson Architects, a home completed last year on the site of a former house demolished as part of the Mr Fluffy asbestos demolitions.

Michael Bleby covers commercial and residential property, with a focus on housing and finance, construction, design & architecture. He also dabbles in the business of sport. Michael is based in Melbourne. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at mbleby@afr.com

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