“I have to wait for my mother-in-law to finish in the kitchen before I can leave my bedroom. We can’t cross paths in the house.” – Tenant in Maningrida reflecting on how cultural obligations in their community impact the way the housing functions.
“Many people in Maningrida are very ill. We need to get them easily in and out of houses safely” – Reference Group feedback
Next Project
Maningrida Housing
The NT Government is addressing overcrowding in Maningrida through two key initiatives: Room-to-Breathe and Homebuild. Room-to-Breathe delivers targeted renovations developed through direct consultation and co-design with residents, while Homebuild promises to construct 95 new houses in Maningrida over five years.
With both projects approaching, community members raised concerns that standardised housing designs would fail to meet their unique cultural requirements and practical living needs. Maningrida residents took proactive steps to ensure their cultural needs and aspirations would be meaningfully reflected in all new housing designs.
Working in partnership with the local Housing Reference Group, we facilitated participatory workshops focused on community housing. We let the conversation flow on the reference group’s terms, enabling us to gather deeper insights, build trust, and encourage the sharing of stories and experiences.
We used spatial cards to enable community members to demonstrate housing constraints and opportunities. Through this process, we learnt about cultural practice, visitor patterns, climate, safety issues and occupation levels. The cards helped with our design thinking and gave us a clearer picture of individual pressures within households.
This hands-on, community-led process enabled the development of design principles that are culturally and climatically responsive to the specific needs of the Maningrida community. The process enhanced housing literacy and empowered people to be proactively involved in designing for their community.
| Location | Gunibidji Country |
| Partners | Maningrida Housing Reference Group, NT Government, |
| Project Type | Strategy |
| Completion | 2021 |
| Project Team | Kieran Wong, Heather MacRae |
