Gumbaynggirr people
NSW
A place of optimism, welcome and a major investment by a flourishing community into its future, Yarrila Place is named for the Gumbaynggirr word meaning ‘place of light’.
Located where the mountains meet the sea, Yarrila Place is a vibrant cultural and civic hub shaped through community engagement and understanding of place, bringing together previously dispersed Council facilities. BVN’s approach to the project is one of welcome (its working title through design was ‘All Welcome’) and safe harbour – an interpretation of the physical harbour that the town was built around, a refuge from storm and sea and a place of fecund opportunity, surrounded by beach, mountain and rainforest.
The library, museum, and Council services surround the three-level atrium, which is connected by ‘The Track’, which was developed with the local indigenous community. The atrium is enlivened by the public use and Emma Coulter’s major artwork, ‘Let them feel the light’.
Yarilla Place redefines the idea of what it means to be a public building.  Ìý
The building is anchored to an enormous fig and tied to a through-site-link that invites movement between a large public carpark and the town centre. Extraordinary levels of enlivenment are achieved by a free-form staircase set in a five-level, open-air atrium, the heart of a spatially dynamic composition.  Ìý
Like a trifle made to the cook’s whim, BVN have taken all the ingredients of a civic hub—library, gallery, museum, makerspace, civic offices and chambers, and more—and layered them with deliberate unpredictability. Proportions, adjacencies and stackings defy conventions. The result is a building that surprises without disorienting, that feels generous, intuitive, and alive. Ìý
Ascending, you encounter spaces that are both intimate and social, set against a constant rhythm of public movement, staff exchanges, and casual encounters. The form resists repetition—no formula, no rigid grid—just a thoughtful mirror of the diverse Indigenous and migrant communities who use it. Ìý
The material palette says as much as the spatial one. A grounded brick base gives way to deep-green ceramic panels above—curved and glazed like leaves—moderating climate and respectfully nodding to the big fig. 
Matthew Blair, Design and Overall Project Lead. NSW Registered Architect number 7053.
Kevin O’Brien, Design with Country Lead. NSW Registered Architect number 8155.
Liam Croft, Project Lead
Jessica Smith, Project Architect
Pi Saengporm, Graduate of Architecture
Laurie Aznavoorian, Workplace Lead
Phillip Rowden, Design Lead
Amelia Lipa, Interiors Lead
Tim Crawshaw, Project Architect
Kate Field, Graduate of Architecture
Ayelen Moure, Graduate of Architecture
Eric Yeoh, BIM Manager
Barry Cantor, Model Maker
Jonathan Capparelli, Visualisation
Turner and Townsend, Project Manager
BVN, BIM
BVN, Head Design Consultant
BVN, Interior Design
LCI Consultants, Building Services, AV and Specialist Lighting, Vertical transport, Fire Engineer and Environmental Sustainability Engineer
Taylor Thomson Whitting, Structural and Civil Engineer
Surface Design, Facade Engineer
Urbis, Landscape Architect
GeoLINK, Statutory Town Planner
Altus Group, Quantity Surveyor (Design Development onwards)
Blackett Maguire and Goldsmith, BCA and NCC (Design Development onwards)
Group DLA, Primary Certifying Authority
Citizen Group, Wayfinding Consultant
Wall to Wall Design and Consulting, Access Consultant
Pulse Acoustics, Acoustic Engineer
Ason Group, Traffic Engineer
Sangster Design Group, Kitchen Design Consultant
iAM Projects, Public Art Project Management
Windtech, Wind Consultant
Blair and Lanskey, Land Surveyor
SASO, Branding Consultant
SLR, Waste Management Consultant (Schematic Design)
Elephants Foot, Waste Management Consultant (Design Development onwards)
Thylacine Design, Museum Design Consultant
Arborist Network, Arborist
GHD, Flood Consultant
Slattery, Quantity Survey (Schematic Design)
Philip Chun, BCA and NCC (Schematic Design)
Calder Associates, Workplace Strategy Consultants
Artist: Emma Coulter, Curator: iAM Projects, Fabricator: Stainless Aesthetics, Public Artwork: ‘let them feel the light’
Artists: Ruben Browne, Denise Buchanan, Reece Flanders, Lilly Clegg, Josie Rose Atkinson and Lisa Kelly, The Track Artworks
The ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
