Landscape Architecture - Bachelors

Resilient Landscapes Studio: Confluence

This project aims at forming constructed “habitats” for the purpose of indigenous food and medical resource production, an urban farm guided by traditional owners in terms of land management practices and economic engagement. Bringing the spirit of the river into the “interior” of Kurilpa Point public space and markets are also afforded by the design.

Kai Wood-Willems

Acknowledgement of Country. I acknowledge that the site, Kurilpa, lies on the traditional lands of Aboriginal people, the unceded Country of the Turrbal and Yugara people. I respect the role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have played for millennia in caring for the land on which we live, study and work. I acknowledge that this care of Country, cultural traditions and irreplaceable role in the broader community is carried through the generations by Elders past, present and emerging, continuing to this day and beyond. Kurilpa hosts many sites of cultural significance to the Turrbal and Yugara people with a rich history of living in harmony managing the land. It is imperative to keep the needs of the Turrbal and Yugara people at the forefront of any design development and outcome, especially with such an important site to Aboriginal people. With this in mind, the design proposal for Kurilpa in this project aims to respect Turrbal and Yugara culture and land management practices in a way that makes it an example of incorporating indigenous knowledge in food production and placemaking for Brisbane and Australia as a whole. The name Kurilpa is derived from the Jagera language name for the water rat, Kuril. This area is known to be a former significant habitat for the Kuril, although they are now seldom seen here.

Kai Wood-Willems

As a designer Kai hopes to one day work with rural, regional, and remote communities. These places are completely surrounded by the landscape in which they are situated, and Kai aims to combine regenerative agriculture with landscape architecture in this rural context.