JEFA GREENAWAY
Greenaway Architects AUS
SAY IT LOUD - Naarm Melbourne Exhibitor
MELBOURNE/AUSTRALIA Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Family has always inspired me to do better, to leave this place in a better position than when I started. The desire to shift the dialogue to broaden the frame of reference of how we understand architecture and design.
JEFA GREENAWAY
Bio:
Jefa Greenaway is founding Director of Greenaway Architects, a Senior Lecturer (University of Melbourne)/Honorary Fellow (Deakin University), and a regular design commentator across many platforms. He’s championed Indigenous led design thinking for 30 years as a registered architect in NSW/VIC, as co-founder of Indigenous Architecture + Design Victoria, as co-author of the International Indigenous Design Charter, and as Regional Ambassador (Oceania) of International Indigenous Design Network.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
It started with the ability to draw & curiosity to understand how things come together. The immediacy of mind to hand and the iterative process, observed through family members, maintained an environment which always encouraged and valued creativity.
What do you do?
I seek to utilise a holistic design process to navigate socially complex environments, anchored in Country, to create solutions in support of the needs of the Communities in which we work.
What excites you in the work you do? Who or what inspires you professionally?
Having the capacity to work with a range of Communities, project typologies and design challenges to create meaningful design action. There is now a level of cultural maturity in the Australian context, whereby design equity is being embraced.
Who or what inspires you professionally? What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Family has always inspired me to do better, to leave this place in a better position than when I started. The desire to shift the dialogue to broaden the frame of reference of how we understand architecture and design.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Being inducted in the Design Institute of Australia’s ‘Hall of Fame’ in 2020 was certainly a highlight. In addition, the ability to maintain a design practice for over two decades and to contribute to a diversity of projects.
Featured Project Name:
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Featured Project Location:
Bundoora VIC (Wurundjeri Country)
Featured Project Completion Date:
2020/1
Role in Featured Project:
Architecture/Interior Design
Featured Project Description:
Indigenous people interface disproportionately with the justice system, yet considered design can become an enabler for cultural safety within an environment which evokes a relationality to Country. The ‘Koorie Hearing Rooms’ drew inspiration from the remnant Indigenous landscape of the area to create a place imbued with the colours of Country, cultural motifs and a space that was neither clinical or intimidating. The interiors choreograph a reimagining of justice in the journey towards healing.
Photography Credit:
CSV/Venko/GA
Featured Project Name:
Majlis - Australian Pavilion
Featured Project Location:
Dubai UAE (Expo 2020)
Featured Project Completion Date:
2020/1
Role in Featured Project:
Architecture/Interior Design
Featured Project Description:
The project created a dialogue between Emirati & Indigenous culture in a gathering space known locally as a ‘Majlis’. It sought to blend cultures through shared elements. By showcasing local craftspeople, bespoke joinery & interior design elements, the design sought to create a place of connection, exchange and respite. Colour, texture, materiality utilised kangaroo skins, Aboriginal art and cultural motifs drawn upon my Wailwan/Kamilaroi culture and enhanced by custom furniture by Nicole Monks.
