Mari-Mari-Ba

A bushland ‘backyard’ centering purpose-built accommodation precinct on Brisbane’s southside for First Nations women and children experiencing homelessness.

The Precinct including 33 modern homes, yarning circle, children’s play area and community hub have been delivered through a partnership between the Miles Government Homes for Queenslanders plan to deliver 53,500 social homes by 2046 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) Brisbane.

The complex has been named Mari-Mari-Ba, which in the Yagarabul language means ‘Butterfly Place’ and symbolises hope and transformation.

Since 1961, this 1.4ha site has provided transitional accommodation services to women in need. This important history has been recorded literally in the landscape through brick banding which outlines the former building’s footprint. Additionally, part of the former building has been repurposed into an outdoor reflection room with green roof and fire pit.

Reinforcing a sense of family, the complex of accommodation designed by Deicke Richards face inward onto a large communal ‘back’ yard that contains a playground, lawns, and a sheltered BBQ picnic area. Screening planting to ground floor units provides privacy and connects residents with the surrounding bushland setting which draws its species from an adjacent patch of endangered remnant eucalyptus woodland.

Green infrastructure is integrated into the ‘backyard’: a dry creek manages overland flow together with a series of rainwater gardens that capture and treat rainwater. Pavements and shade screens have been customised with original artwork commissioned for the project.

In conjunction with Deicke Richards for Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy (DCHDE), and the operators, the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS)

Photography by Christopher Frederick Jones