In October 2007, Australia’s then minister of immigration, Kevin Andrews, admitted that the government had altered its refugee policy in response to the impression that Africans, and particularly Sudanese asylum-seekers, had trouble assimilating with the culture. In the wake of the murder of Sudanese refugee Liep Gony, Andrews said, “I have been concerned that some groups don’t seem to be settling and adjusting into the Australian way of life as quickly as we would hope, and therefore it makes sense to put the extra money into slow[ing] down the rate of intake from countries such as Sudan.” Africa’s portion of the country’s annual 13,000-personal refugee allocation had been slashed from 70 percent to just 30 percent in two years.

The design is informed by Skinners Playground, PHOOEY’s year-old activity center for children living in public housing in South Melbourne. Both are fabricated from old shipping containers, but Ho notes important differences between them. The intended users of the Flemington design, for example, are teenagers and young adults who require services with far more breadth and depth than what young children demand. So whereas Skinners Playground comprises four containers linked in an imaginative series, Flemington’s shipping containers are raised on pilotis and arranged in a circle: At grade, Sudanese-Australians can congregate outdoors as they had traditionally, while volumes above are devoted to compartmentalized functions such as athletics, job training, and meal preparation. The cooking courses are a vital component of the scheme, Ho says. “There is no discrimination with food. It celebrates family heritage and cultural diversity.”