Yarrila Place by BVN

A long-awaited major cultural and community centre has become a new civic beacon for a changing Coffs Harbour, reflecting the stories and spirit of Gumbaynggirr Country in its shining form.

As architects we often hear of a project we’re interested in working on a long time before we have the chance to get involved – but 20 years is a little unusual.

The idea of developing a major new public institution for Coffs Harbour – BVN principal Matthew Blair’s hometown – has been around since at least the 1980s. Indeed, it was the publicity for one such brief that originally inspired Blair to study architecture in the 1990s.

In the 2010s, following a site-selection process, the city council invited a number of architects to prepare concept designs to help understand project feasibility and draw community feedback. When the opportunity to get involved with the project that would eventually become Yarrila Place came in 2018, it piqued Blair’s interest, and BVN went on to be selected from a group of six practices invited to tender. BVN has a track record of high-quality public projects, and while no doubt other practices considered had similar profiles, it’s possible that Blair’s eagerness to contribute to his hometown shone through.

Yarrila Place is a major new community and cultural asset on Gumbaynggirr Country, in the centre of Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. The facility comprises new offices for the city council, Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM), a cafe and a library. Each of these entities operates separately on a day-to-day basis and each has particular operational requirements, yet none has its own formal identity.

The work reflects on the nature of the Coffs Harbour community. With six Aboriginal clan groups (Bagawa, Garby, Garlambirla, Yurrunga, Ngambaga and Gambalamam) and a diverse non-Indigenous community, the region has also been a dedicated refugee and migration resettlement area for nearly 20 years. These communities formed part of the project consultation group that informed BVN’s plan. As a reference to this notion, the team developed the working title “All Welcome,” a concept that drove the project in multiple ways – first as an internal project title and eventually as an external one that helped bind the project team and the community. This was one of the triggers to create a singular form: one place for everyone. When the time came to officially name the project, it was the community that chose “Yarrila,” a Gumbaynggirr word meaning “illuminate, brighten, light up or illustrate.”

I make it a point when engaged to write reviews not to visit the site with the architect, nor to read their design statements. I prefer to experience the building first-hand without an external narrative. In my visits to Yarrila, I had interesting informal conversations with librarians and curators while observing how the community uses its new facility.

These initial observations form the basis of a later engagement with the architects, whose narratives don’t always match the experience. It was refreshing to hear that the metaphors Blair referred to in our post-visit discussion aligned with my experience of the space: the gesture to the huge adjacent fig tree, which has significance to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal histories, is an obvious example; the way in which the atrium offers visual connection to the mountains (north-west) and sea (south-east) beyond as you wind your way upwards is more subtle, with the experience of the top-lit atrium itself a great success. These ideas are a direct outcome of the Design with Country process, which was led by Blair and fellow BVN principal Kevin O’Brien (Kaurereg and Meriam) in ongoing consultation with respected local Elders, recognised knowledge holders and various community groups.

The atrium is the “central organising idea,” which includes a sinuous stair wrapped in orange steel, referred to by the team as a “track” that “sets out a path of movement from the ground to the sky.” As the stair winds through the three-level space, it references a number of sites that are culturally significant to various Gumbaynggirr clan groups. These references are not instantly obvious but make meaningful contributions, firstly to the immediacy of the space and secondly to a longer-term commitment to the importance of Country.

The Government Architect of NSW’s case study on the project outlines “spatial implications/tips for designers” as lessons learnt.1 It captures the project’s essence, in particular the idea that “abstract translations can enable multiple readings, providing potential for an inclusive, multilayered experience” – the document is well worth a read.

Moving through the atrium feels akin to being in a deep rainforest valley or gorge. These spaces offer respite from direct sunlight, with brighter light above and beyond offering clues as to how to move through them. This way in which the central space works and feels is almost exactly the way Blair described it to me after my visit. The name Yarrila is a fitting one.

The project is located just north of Harbour Drive, a key thoroughfare leading from the CBD to the Jetty precinct a few kilometres to the south-east. A fundamental part of the brief was understanding how the project would knit into Coffs Harbour City Centre Masterplan, which was in development during the design period. The masterplan looks forward to a 2031 scenario envisaging CBD development northward towards the underutilised Coffs Creek. Yarrila Place will eventually anchor this new civic precinct with the ground floor providing an important through-site link. On the north-west side of the link is the fig tree, which provides an obvious wayfinding device. Blair says the tree “drove everything” in the project, from its significant role in the Design with Country framework to the curvaceous plan form and the green-glazed ceramic facade tiles. There are risks in making such gestural references given that trees have a limited life span. In this instance, the consultant arborist has advised the tree could live for around 1,000 years with proper management, so here it all makes sense.

Locating the city council’s offices, including its main entry, on an upper level was a risky and controversial move. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it’s working, however, and visitors enjoy the experience of using the atrium to get there and the views from the upper terrace on arrival. Yet there is more to this facility than the atrium, the stair and the terrace.

The library, spread over three levels, is well-considered, with some clever circulation that is neatly integrated with the atrium, particularly on level three. YAM, meanwhile, is mostly a series of “black box” exhibition spaces for both temporary and permanent collections. Several commissioned artworks add deeper meaning to the project, including a digital Welcome to Country by Zakpage (Alison Page with Nik Lachajczak), and the Gumbaynggirr Art Trail, which features works by artists from each of the six Gumbaynggirr clan groups. “Let them feel the light,” a site-specific work by Victorian artist Emma Coulter, adds a level of animation to the brick walls of the atrium.

If you’ve ever driven from Sydney to Brisbane, chances are you’ve driven through Coffs Harbour – probably slowly, there’s always traffic. Yarrila Place is visible from what is now the main north–south highway: you won’t miss it if you drive past soon.

The city is changing: a new bypass is under construction, due for completion in 2027, and the highway will become something completely different. Yarrila may well shine brightest of all changes afoot in one of the biggest cities between the two capitals. The building may not outlast the fig tree, but Yarrila Place signals a bright future for the city and the region.

– John de Manincor is an architect and writer based in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. He is a founding partner of Possible Studio, a practice currently involved in several public and community projects focused on flood recovery and environmental preservation.

1. Government Architect NSW, “Case Study: Yarrila Place,” October 2023, https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023- 10/yarrila-place-case-study.pdf (Accessed September 2024).

Details

Project

Yarrila Place

Architect

BVN

Australia

Project Team

Matthew Blair, Kevin O’Brien, Liam Croft, Jessica Smith, Pi Saengporm, Laurie Aznavoorian, Phillip Rowden, Amelia Lipa, Tim Crawshaw, Kate Field, Ayelen Moure, Eric Yeoh, Barry Cantor, Jonathan Capparelli

AV and specialist lighting consultant

LCI Consultants

Access consultant

Wall to Wall Design and Consulting

Acoustics engineer

Pulse Acoustics

Arborist

Network

BCA and NCC

Philip Chun & Associates, Blackett Maguire + Goldsmith

BIM management

BVN

Branding consultant

SASO

Builder

Lipman

Building services engineer

LCI Consultants

Designing with Country

BVN

Environmental sustainability engineer

LCI Consultants

Facade engineer

Surface Design

Fire engineer

LCI Consultants

Floor consultant

GHD

Interior design

BVN

Kitchen design

Sangster Design Group

Land surveyor

Blair and Lanskey

Landscape consultant

Lipman

Museum consultant

Thylacine Design

Principal certifying authority

Group DLA

Project manager

Turner & Townsend

Public art project management

iAM Projects

Quantity surveyor

Slattery Australia, Altus Group

Statutory town planner

Geolink

Structural and civil engineer

Taylor Thomson Whitting (TTW)

The Track Artists

Ruben Browne, Denise Buchanan, Reece Flanders, Lilly Clegg, Josie Rose Atkinson, Lisa Kelly

Traffic engineer

Ason Group

Urban planner

BVN

Vertical transport consultant

LCI Consultants

Waste management consultant

SLR Consulting, Elephants Foot

Wayfinding

Citizen Group

Wind consultant

Windtech

Workplace strategy

Calder Consultants, BVN

Aboriginal Nation

Yarrila Place is built on the land of the Gumbaynggirr people.

Category

Public / cultural

Type

Community centres

 

The facility comprises new offices for the city council, Yarrila Arts and Museum, a cafe and a library, which operate independently on a day-to-day basis.

 

The atrium is Yarilla’s central organising idea, with skylights offering clues as to how to move through the space. Artworks : Emma Coulter, Track Artists.

 

City council offices are located on an upper level, and anecdotal evidence suggests visitors enjoy the experience of using the atrium to get there.

 

Yarrila Place sets out to be one place for everyone, offering spaces for children, cultural activities and governance.

 

Yarrila Arts and Museum is mostly a series of "black box" exhibition spaces for both temporary and permanent collections. Exhibition: Yaamanga Around here.