Jury comment
This striking project encapsulates two spectacular lookouts projecting out over the rim of the Murchison River Gorge. The highly successful outcomes of the work include the creation of site-specific and cultural interpretations of art with Ngarda-Ngarli Traditional Owners and artists. The lookouts, while technically heavy pieces of infrastructure, nonetheless look and feel light – the result of an exceptional design effort and innovative thinking. The design marries structural and landscape design to create an experience that is visually and tactilely light, and entwined with deep cultural storytelling and cultural messaging by the Ngarda-Ngarli people. The project encourages longer visits to the region through the provision of safe and comfortable visitor gathering areas and access ways. It delivers a key tourism focal point that offers a highly memorable experience of the cultural, visual and natural environments within the national park and it will encourage visitation to the area for many years to come.
Kaju Yatka (Kalbarri Skywalk) is located in Kalbarri, Western Australia on the land of the Nanda people.
Project credits
Design practice Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions Collaborator Nanda Aboriginal Corporation Nanda artists Khayla Hampton, Colleen Drage, Mauretta Drage Interpretation planning and design consultant Creative Spaces with Ecoscape Structural engineer Terpkos Engineering Architect Eastman Poletti Sherwood Architects Civil engineer Greenfield Technical Services Stonemason Geraldton Natural Limestone Builder GBSC Yurra Photographers DBCA and Wondrous World Images
To view all the winners of the 2021 National Landscape Architecture Awards, go here.
