The design of our spaces in the Yarra Building, Federation Square continue to pay tribute to our time at King Street. In designing our new spaces, Lyons Architecture working with Jefa Greenaway of Greenaway Architecture and Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria (IADV) incorporated original design features from King Street into the fabric of our new spaces as memories of our past. These original design features include the original metal trees from the ground and first floor permanent exhibition space at King Street, the boomerang design decal on the entrance doors, and Bunjil the creator, which perched atop the replica scar tree. There were other design features from the King Street building that we were unable to bring with us including particularly the replica tree. As a memory of the tree, Jefa Greenaway designed a table in the shape of a canoe referencing the scar on that tree. Below is a short film of Jefa speaking about embedding Indigenous placemaking principles into design considerations, using the design and fit-out of the KHT as an example.
In the King Street building, key spaces were also named after people who were a part of the history of the Trust, either an Elder or a highly respected supporter. These people and their memory remain important to us and while we are currently looking at renaming our new spaces using the original names, the people who are honoured are remembered in the 2003-2015 chapter of the KHT’s history.