Redefining architecture to accommodate cultural difference: designing for cultural sustainability

The Architectural Science Review piece combines ideas about the nature and interrelation of culture and architecture that have preoccupied researchers at the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre (University of Queensland), analysing the living environments of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The article draws a number of examples from the analyses of Aboriginal Australian built environments to illustrate their points.

Aboriginal yards in remote Australia: Adapting landscapes for Indigenous housing

The Adapting landscapes for Indigenous housing paper draws on data from a qualitative climate change study with Australian Aboriginal people in the remote areas of Queensland and regional studies to explore ways that yards can enhance thermal performance around conventional housing. The paper explores how living spaces outside of the house continue to be overlooked and under-utilised despite evidence of appropriate housing designs. Further, Aboriginal people have modified their behaviour and made changes to their external living environments, often without sufficient resources, to achieve social and cultural continuity as well as energy efficiency.