Mari-Mari-Ba by Deicke Richards

Located in Queensland’s Eight Mile Plains lies a collection of buildings known as Mari-Mari-Ba. Designed by Deicke Richards and operated by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS), this renewed Indigenous women's hostel offers security, community and services.

The site holds a rich First Nations history being that it is a regeneration of the Joyce Wilding Hostel, which served as a refuge for vulnerable First Nations women and children since the seventies. Meaning “butterfly place” in the local Jagera language, Mari-Mari-Ba provides much needed support services through accommodation and safe community spaces. The site’s ongoing history and knowledge sharing informed many of the design elements. Deicke Richards and the consultant team led several workshops involving owners, operators, previous tenants, and elders to ensure that First Nations voices were heard and integrated, and that culturally appropriate designs were achieved. 

“Crafted in kilns reaching temperatures of 1,000 and 1,200 degrees Celsius, the result is a material of unparalleled durability, capable of withstanding the harshest temperatures and conditions.”

The perimeter of the original building is mapped through brickwork inset and echoed in a fire court retreat occupying the hostel’s former TV lounge, where new residents would settle before being shown to their accommodation. The lounge has since been reshaped into a grotto, punctuated by round skylights and anchored by an expansive fire pit. The original fireplace is supplanted by a suspended chimney with a green roof and remnant columns allowing for uninterrupted views across the hearth. Lowset blockwork houses designed for Elders occupy the bushland edge of the site that slopes towards Bulimba Creek, whilst a shared pavilion sits at the junction between the new buildings and the original public housing. Crafted from bushfire-resistant native hardwoods and clad in carbon-charred timber, it architecturally stands as the centerpiece of the project. 

Here, Deicke Richards navigated several site and project constraints including bushfire overlays through the use of materiality. Mari-Mari-Ba features the GB Masonry Wedge Breeze Block in Pottery and Nubrik in Lygon Coffee, Belmore Grey and Domain Terracotta, all of which possess an exceptional material resilience to withstand fire. Crafted in kilns reaching temperatures of 1,000 and 1,200 degrees Celsius, the result is a material of unparalleled durability, capable of withstanding the harshest temperatures and conditions. The bricks provide a non-flammable, combustible option that defies the destructive forces of wildfires. 

ATSICHS also commissioned Koa and Kuku Yalanji artist Elaine Chambers-Hegarty to design several elements of the project, solidifying Mari-Mari-Ba as a space for First Nations peoples. Chambers-Hegarty’s perforated metal entry screens adorn the eastern facade. Allowing natural light to pass through, the openings also mitigate entrapment concerns for those who find the enclosure of private domestic spaces distressing.