Moondani Balluk, Victoria University

“Moondani Balluk is a culturally safe and supportive place for Aboriginal students and staff at Victoria University. Moondani Balluk means ‘embrace people’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people.” Moondani Balluk

Tertiary institutions are more than academia; they are incubators of innovation, thought and knowledge sharing, and social connection. The heart of Victoria University is Moondani Balluk, the cultural centre of the university. Fittingly REALM Studio has created a landscape design that sensitively responds to the built environment that surrounds Moondani Balluk, and seeks to create an enduring sense of place that evokes the expression of Country in every fabric of the design and provides the space and moments for connection - a place that embraces people and celebrates our First Nation People and Country. 

The Moondani Balluk Courtyard design is an exercise in a deconstructed civic space, the removal of landscape and civil convention to provide a country-centric design where impermeable pavements are removed, the ground is opened up for water movement and penetration, and plantings that respond to the site conditions and that express this place on Country. This includes the use of gravels, boulders and bluestone paving with a yarning circle at its centre. 

We are privileged to facilitate the design vision of Realm Studios into a functional space that provides an opportunity for staff and students to connect with each other on Country at Victoria University.