Projects

prominent design feature: The concept of two buildings was conceived to accommodate the medical and counselling services. These are linked by an internal concrete ‘street’ to a larger, obviously public building. This accommodated staff at one end and the community group rooms at the other. Central to the public building is the spacious reception area where access to the building's different functions is managed. The internal court was designed not only to enable staff to find much needed respite outside the building, but it also serves as an extension to the meeting room, the staffroom and the Manager's office. A cafe' is housed in a slightly wider than usual corridor next to the reception. This is central to the hospitality offered to the community by MWH, and is the most colourful and dynamic element of the architecture.

construction features: The exterior of the cafe is notionally a jewel-like composition of compressed fibre sheets on the east elevation, while the long west wall is concrete tilt-up panels. This element has been relieved with extensive rebating to create the inscription of prominent champions of the women’s health cause. Energy saving devices includes increased insulation, natural ventilation, solar HWU, water saving appliances and energy efficient lighting. MWH have not only reported a high degree of satisfaction with the building, but also that their new building has served to inspire and draw-in new additional community participation and interest.

internal features: The medical centre fit-out was carried concurrently with the construction of the building by a specialist medical fit-out contractor. The success of this project was aided greatly by the excellent communication between the construction and fit-out contractors managed by the Gavin Construction, construction management team. The downstairs tenancies were ‘base-build’ only and were designed for fit-out for by the prospective tenants. The tenancies are fully occupied by health services tenants and the building is now a very busy commercial centre.