2025 AIA NSW Awards – Sustainable Architecture – Shortlist
2024 Timber Design Awards – Finalist – Public Building
A grove of mature native trees determined the plan of a new community hall in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The inverted L-shaped layout allowed the trees to be retained, with a much-loved blackbutt tree informing the geometry of the entry sequence.
The new hall replaces a rundown 1950s steel-framed and clad structure. Located on a corner site and adjoining a parcel of crown reserve, the building knits the two sites together, creating a presence and drawing people in from different access points. Form and materiality are residential in scale, simple and sympathetic to the suburban context.
The local community had expressed a strong interest in facilities for dance, exercise classes and indoor sports. The flexible space features a large hall for hire, with a kitchen, accessible storage, toilets. A wide verandah surrounding the building on three sides offers additional gathering space for special events. Window openings in the hall and amenities have been carefully curated to offer expansive views to the established trees and adjacent reserve.
The entry is signposted with a playful skylight shaft of fibreglass, a beacon that lights the space and emits a soft glow at night. A wide stair and accessible pathway with shaded veranda welcome visitors into a vestibule space which features a mural by Indigenous artists Re-right Collective and local school kids. This entry lobby and a toilet corridor airlock are separated from the main hall, whilst storage is accessed directly from the main space.
The expression of the building is one of a tough, yet playful exterior, with a warm and welcoming interior. Materials have been selected to be robust, tactile, and sustainable. The exterior is painted brick in colours expressive of the local coastal environment, with corrugated zincalume steel and polycarbonate. The primary structure and internal lining are made from glue-laminated plantation hardwood timbers and the floor of Australian hardwood.
A stack effect with a high opening to the north and lower opening to the south increases natural ventilation and lighting. Large operable wall panels allow summer breezes to naturally cool the building. The southern wall is made of a translucent polycarbonate insulated wall system that allows natural light and insulation. Ceiling fans provide cooling, and in winter recirculate warm air generated by a reticulated underfloor heating system.
The nearby reserve site is activated with landscaping. Other environmentally sustainable features include solar panels, heat pump, rainwater re-use, EV chargers and dedicated EV parking spaces.
