Gindaja Training Facility and Accommodation | People Oriented Design pty ltd

Commendation for Commercial Architecture

Set against the Yarrabah Range, the Gindaja Treatment and Healing Centre offers a place of recovery for those overcoming addiction. The design centres on a training building with a commercial kitchen, training room, and breezeway. A material palette of masonry, concrete, and timber enhances biophilia. Indigenous artwork appears in perforated screens and patterned concrete, while retained trees and a yarning space reflect respect for Country, supporting a shared vision for a culturally grounded, high-quality healing facility.

Sustainability shortlist

Award for Commercial Architecture

The defined coastal town and landscape of Yarraba to the South of Cairns is a special place for the resident indigenous community defined by their Country and their activities. Sitting within Gunggandji country and framed by the mountains of the wet tropics beyond offers a special framework for the Gingadaja Treatment and Healing indigenous Corporation which provides culturally involved drug and alcohol rehabilitation for aboriginal and Torres Strait people. This facility sought out POD to assist in developing an overarching masterplan and to shape the nature and form of a training centre and residential accommodation together with the refurbishing of existing facilities. 

As the project has evolved buildings and landscape have settled into a well-defined response to Country, culture and climate and to create places and structures that offer attractive and well-regarded places while opening up opportunities for young trainees. Cultural identity has been further strengthened with the collaboration of the Yarrabah Arts Centre and its story of Gindaja, the male cassowary and protector of the Gunggandji Country. 

Social Impact Prize

Set on Gunggandji Country at the foot of the rainforest-clad Yarrabah Range, the Gindaja Treatment and Healing Centre is a quietly transformative work of architecture that places community, culture and Country at the heart of the design process. 

The project delivers a training facility, commercial kitchen, dining and yarning spaces, and accessible accommodation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people navigating recovery from drug and alcohol dependency. Emerging from an extensive co-design process involving Gindaja’s board, staff, community members and local artists, the architecture embodies a culturally safe model of care shaped by lived experience, local knowledge and collective aspiration. 

Drawing on the vernacular language of the Yarrabah Mission, the built form responds thoughtfully to climate through sheltered courtyards, robust tropical materials and endemic planting. Stories of Country are embedded throughout, from artwork and landscape elements to the footprints and nests of Gindaja, the male cassowary, etched into concrete as enduring symbols of protection, care and belonging. 

Constructed by an Indigenous-owned builder, the project’s impact extends well beyond the built form, creating employment opportunities, skills development and lasting community benefit. Clients speak of feeling recognised, uplifted and proud within spaces that reflect their identity and aspirations. This is architecture that listens before it speaks, a grassroots, community-led model whose positive ripple effect sets an exemplary standard for culturally grounded healing environments across the country.