A Friday Note - 1 June 2018

Dear all,

This week DPTI has joined in events to mark National Reconciliation Week and I’m proud to be part of an organisation that honours such an important occasion so well.

The Reconciliation Week morning tea at 77 Grenfell Street was an outstanding success, with the room packed full of people eager to learn more about Aboriginal culture and history.

Thanks to the team who organised this successful and thought-provoking event and to the willing band of musicians and singers who pulled together a “flash mob”.

DPTI also had two tables of 12 at the National Reconciliation Week Breakfast, hosted by Reconciliation SA, on Monday.

Collaborative artwork

The Office for Design and Architecture SA is showing its support for National Reconciliation Week and the upcoming NAIDOC Week through a collaborative art installation at 28 Leigh Street.

The purpose of the display was to bring the ODASA staff together, through a journey of discovery about shared cultures within the office. Through discussion they explored the origins of their ancestors, which are represented by the country flags in the installation. This layer of the artwork relates to the 2018 Reconciliation Week theme of Don’t keep history a mystery.

Another layer of the artwork builds on the 2018 NAIDOC theme Because of her, we can. The ODASA staff chose one word that best described a female figure who has helped shape their lives – these can be seen around the edge of the respective country flags.

In addition, the artwork features 650 white stars and two blue stars. These represent the 650 centuries of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the two centuries that non-Aboriginal people have lived in Australia. The stars form an open-ended curved shape, which plays on the notion of Closing the Gap in Australia.

ODASA hopes this artwork continues to inspire conversation about Indigenous cultures, as well as the many other cultures that coexist in Australia.

Planning and Design Code

Planning Reform has met another milestone with the release of an important discussion paper on how the state’s new planning rulebook will work.

Called The Planning and Design Code – How will it work?, the paper sets out the proposed framework for the Planning and Design Code.

Importantly it describes what the first generation of the Code will look like in 2020, such as how it will be structured, maintained and delivered, and how South Australia’s new ePlanning system will change the way development applications are assessed.

This paper is out for public consultation until 22 July 2018, with comments to be made via the SA Planning Portal.

Darlington Upgrade

The Darlington Upgrade Project continues to take shape, with “Super-T beams” for the new Sturt Road bridge installed last weekend.

This structure is one of eight bridges being constructed and is being built using the traditional ‘top down’ construction method, which involves the bridge piers, supporting deck, road pavement, railings and shared-use paths being built at the current road surface level.

Once construction of the structure is complete and traffic is moved onto the new bridge, the soil underneath the bridge structure is then excavated in preparation for construction of the lowered motorway.

Flashback Friday

Today’s Flashback Friday shows the intersection of King William Street and Rundle Street, looking west into Hindley Street, about 1891. Note the horse-drawn tram moving into King William Street and, if you look very carefully, a man riding a penny farthing bicycle into Hindley Street.

Julienne TePohe
Acting Chief Executive