OCULUS, together with design partner UDLA, provided urban design and landscape architecture for Development WA’s 35 ha Subi East site surrounding the former Subiaco Oval on Whadjuk Country in Perth. 

The Property Council of Australia announced The Oval, part of the Subi East project, as the Best Community Infrastructure Award Winner at the 2024 Western Australia Property Awards. Property Council WA Executive Director Nicola Brischetto said “The winners have all demonstrated their exceptional ability to deliver projects and programs that are loved by West Australians all across the state." 

The wider project, featuring a spectacular Six Seasons Bidi Trail of public artworks, has also recently been recognised by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia, winning the 2024 Core Values Awards Indigenous Category. The IAP2 Australasia Core Values Awards build awareness, contribute to the practice, and recognise excellence in public participation and community engagement. 

An IAP2 Case Study has been published detailing DevelopmentWA's innovative approach to Aboriginal engagement for the Subi East project, embedding Noongar culture and self-determination through an Aboriginal Development Manager program co-designed with Noongar Elders. 

“DevelopmentWA recognised that for this process to have credibility, it needed to be Noongar-led and aligned with cultural protocols. This required humility, patience and a willingness to cede control to the Traditional Owners as knowledge holders.” 

“Subi East's Aboriginal-led process for public art, interpretive spaces and business engagement is being heralded as a groundbreaking precedent. By embedding these innovative practices from project conception, it demonstrates the social, economic and artistic benefits of prioritising Aboriginal self-determination and empowerment in placemaking and development.” 

Read more about our work on the project here, including a full list of collaborators.