Custodianship

Sustainable Transformation in Architecture

Custodianship:
Sustainable Transformation in Architecture

Introductions + Part 1:
Circular Economy in the built environment

Part 2:
Wilya Janta (Standing Strong) Housing Collaboration

Part 3:
The Indigenous Doughnut

Part 4:
Questions + Discussions

How can architects and other design professionals shift away from unceded ownership, extraction, commodification and unbridled consumption? On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 7:30 pm, we explored the idea of custodianship. Is it just another architectural buzzword?

On the Australian continent, we all live on colonised land. So, how can architects and other design professionals shift away from unceded ownership, extraction, commodification, and unbridled consumption? Is relentless optimisation and technology innovation the best way to shift current patterns of carbonisation?

The custodian concept has the potential to transform the way architects currently practice in their systems of fee-for-service and economic patronage. Rather than treating the earth, the non-human, buildings, supply chains, and materials as disposable commodities, custodianship promotes an ethos of care and enduring stewardship over resources.

Architects and others adopting this mindset see themselves as temporary and permanent caretakers, with a duty to preserve and enhance ecologies, energy and water systems, and forests, including buildings, for future generations. Key tenets include prioritising adaptive reuse over demolition, implementing material transfer-of-custody agreements, and persistently exploring more sustainable practices.

As the industry grapples with its sizeable and seemingly stuck carbon footprint, custodianship offers an alternative model rooted in circularity, intergenerational equity, and environmental stewardship.

This panel explores custodianship’s potential to drive sustainable transformation in architecture.

The panel included several speakers from across the design and construction industry and was led by Tim Clare and Dr Peter Raisbeck.

Introductions + Part 1

Circular Economy in the built environment

Valentina Petrone

Michael Hromek

Valentina is WSP’s Australia Circular Economy Lead, combining her architectural background with an in-depth knowledge of circular economy principles and how they could be implemented in the built environment at different scales of intervention.

She has co-authored the Circular Design Guidelines for the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to facilitate the transition to a Circular Built Environment. She has successfully delivered pioneering Circular Economy projects in Australia with a focus on ‘Designing out waste’ from the outset, along with developing a Circularity Assessment tool to quantify benefits related to circular design strategies.

Michael is descended of the Yuin People, Budawang Tribe, and he has a range of specialisations in the broad area of design, theory, and architecture. including the nature of design and its role towards Aboriginal society, contemporary Indigenous identity and how this might be formalised through the built environment, and the relationships between theory and practice in planning, society, and the city.

With best practice forged in the academic environment, Michael applies appropriate engagement and design methodology to achieve contemporary and traditional Aboriginal design outcomes.

Part 2

Wilya Janta (Standing Strong) Housing Collaboration

Simon Quilty

Simon has spent 20 years working as a doctor in the northern territory, mainly in remote locations. He has a background in engineering, and this background has shaped his approach to medicine and well-being more generally.

Over the past decade living and working in Katherine and Alice Springs, his focus became more and more attuned to the foundations of the problems that he was seeing in the hospital every day – homelessness, overcrowding, and the almost completely unrecognised impact of colonisation and how Aboriginal people have been forced to live in dwellings not suitable to climate.

Simon has collaborated closely with his good mate Norman Frank Jupurrurla, founder of Wilya Janta, and is now the CEO of this organisation. He is in the final stages of a PhD at ANU examining the relationship between heat and health, with his research honing into the deep deficits in housing, and he is the medical advisor for Purple House.

Part 3

The Indigenous Doughnut

Paul Paton

Damien Melotte

Sustainability Victoria Strategic Plan (2024-2027)

Yarning Circle program. Sustainability Victoria

Masters Program, Design for Circular Cities. Deakin University

A Country Centred Circular Economy of Gunai Kurnai Country

Paul is a Gunnai and Monaro/Ngarigo man and is the CEO of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations (FVTOC). Paul’s career purpose is to advocate for Traditional Owner rights and interests to government, provide leadership and deliver outcomes that will ultimately restore health to Country and communities.

Paul’s previous roles include fourteen years as the CEO at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages and as a non-Executive Director of First Nations Legal & Research Services. Paul is also currently a member of the Victorian Yuma Yirramboi Economic Council, Chairperson of Nindi Ngujarn Ngarigo Monaro Aboriginal Corporation and Chair of the Victorian Aboriginal Executive Council.

Paul brings his knowledge, skills and networks to work closely with Traditional Owners across the State to support their aspirations for community and Country whilst taking up the challenge for self-determination and Treaty. Paul strongly believes in returning Traditional Owners authority on Country, drawing upon deep knowledges for the betterment of us all.

Damien is the Strategic Design Director at GoodHuman and the Vice-chair of the o2 Global Network for Sustainable and Regenerative Design. He attributes his systems thinking and love of the natural world to growing up in the bush in Hepburn Springs. Damien completed a Masters of Design based on Cradle to Cradle, Team Manufacture, and Design for Assembly (DfA) principles. Delving deeper into Indigenous Knowledge systems, industrial symbiosis, biomimicry, and nature connection, Damien developed ‘eco-emotional design’ products and service systems that demonstrate the health benefits of nature connection, aiming to foster greater adoption of sustainable living.

Damien has held ‘Ecoresonance’ exhibitions across Europe and led international projects at the o2 Global Network, organizing Eco-Innovation events in Milan and London. Upon returning to Australia, he worked on local sustainability initiatives, including urban reforestation, with consultancies such as Thinc Beyond and Huddle Design. He expanded his expertise in Service and Digital Design, leading product design and digital transformation initiatives for government, NGO, and enterprise clients, primarily in sustainability, health technology, and design systems.

In recent years, Damien held a Design Executive role at CEV, worked on First Nations strategy and design initiatives at VACL and FVTOC, gained experience in the built environment with circular modular housing design initiatives, and developed packaging recyclability projects through PREP Design. He led circular economy innovation projects at Mt. Alexander Shire and Hepburn Shire in partnership with Z-Net and Hepburn Energy.

In 2023, Damien co-designed the ‘Indigenous Doughnut’ Country Centred Circular Economy model with Paul Paton from FVTOC. This model has been adopted by Deakin University for their new Circular Cities Masters program and by Sustainability Victoria in their 2024-2027 strategy. Currently, Damien is working with GLaWAC on the ‘A Country Centred Circular Economy on Gunai Kurnai Country’ project, supporting the Traditional Owner-led development of circular and regenerative products and services.

Damien believes in the power of Connection to Country, Social Economy, Nature as a Design Partner, and Collaborative Business models to drive transformation towards circular and regenerative living systems.