Afri-Aus-Care Action Research Laboratory

This 'action research' project included a co-design and co-build collaboration with the African refugee community at Springvale to develop an outdoor kitchen/relaxation space by Afri-Aus Care's kitchen garden. The collaboration began in 2019 with Bower invited to work with the Afri-Aus Care community and Stavrias Architecture to design a new community centre to better serve the needs of the members of the African refugee community. Afri-Aus Care's mission includes addressing food security, physical and mental health alongside their advocacy for marginalized youth. Afri-Aus Care is working towards developing a $10M community centre planned for completion in 2027. As part of the consultation process Bower students were involved in an action research project to test design opportunities and investigate possibilities to empower the community to envision the most culturally appropriate ways to express community identity and aspirations through architectural form and function. This 'laboratory' project required the team to work on-site for six days to design and build a pavilion with a variety of roof finishes, install patterned paving, build a decorative fence, and paint a mural. The designs were not finalised before construction began to incorporate concepts that emerged during the on-site consultations taking place between Bower students and the community. The community members direct engagement allowed the paving, roof and mural to be designed in close partnership and at 1:1 scale.