07. Wunan Office

This office was one of the first buildings constructed in Kununurra, and was intended to accommodate the Public Works Department and Agriculture Department staff working on the new Diversion Dam and Ord River Irrigation Area in the early 1960’s. The original building was designed without air conditioning; and the façade was made almost entirely of shutters and louvres to maximise cross-flow ventilation and was raised on stilts to catch the breeze.

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Fast-forward 50 years and the building is now owned by the Wunan Foundation, an Aboriginal Development Organisation driving long-term socio-economic change for Aboriginal People.  This project was intended to create a modern, functional office space with a dynamic new façade to represent the organisation headquarters. Where once the building was an isolating structure raised above the street level, the new verandah roof projects out in a welcoming gesture to visitors and community, and the transparent infill to the ground floor connects the building to the street.