Third Space, Architecture & Indigeneity - Studies of Designed Environments and Cultural Narratives in Australia

Abstract

Country and First Nations cultures in Australia are continually gaining interest in the wider community. In the architectural profession, recent discourse that has focused on Indigenous issues is occurring in a pre-dominantly non-Indigenous environment. These discussions have highlighted the need for more in-depth conversations that encompass conceptual frameworks relevant to First Nations cultures. I argue that the profession can further engage with, acknowledge and understand Country and culture, its interactions with colonialism and actions of reciprocity.

I explore the concept of a Third Space (after Homi Bhabha), as the main proposition in this thesis based on the overarching notion that Country is always giving to all of us. Framing thinking in this way can affect change and allow the profession to engage with cultural differences by meaningfully giving and receiving in spaces between beings—realms, ideological doctrines, cultures, communities, individuals, living and non-living entities—that are always part of Country. These spaces are, collectively, here considered as a Third Space.

This thesis presents the relational, translational and transformational qualities of a Third Space. This can inform ways of thinking that link architecture and cross-cultural engagement with placemaking in contemporary settings, deep time living practices and colonial interventions on the Australian continent between beings. Investigations of contemporary placemaking in Hyde Park, Sydney, the ancient designed environments of Lake Mungo and the incorporation of cultural narratives at the University of Sydney are underpinned by the notion that placemaking has always occurred on this continent and has always engaged with beings constitutive of Country.

Analysis of these case studies, framed thematically in each chapter, leads to the proposition that thinking behind placemaking gives back to Country as gifts with distinct qualities and narratives to focus and inform architectural design philosophies and engagement practices. The thesis shows how this can enable reciprocal actions between engaged beings within the interstitial void of a Third Space. Reciprocity in thinking—giving back—informs more nuanced and inclusive approaches to architecture and placemaking as always becoming part of Country.