Text description provided by the architects. Located in Bairnsdale, East Gippsland, The Centre for Combined Health was driven by the clients’ passion to improve the physical and mental health of the community through better local health services. Recognising that health outcomes and access to facilities are limited in Regional Victoria, the clients wanted to provide a place where multiple allied health facilities could be combined in one building.
Off the back of a drought, the devastating Black Summer bushfires, COVID, and the decline of local fishing and timber industries, the client could see that people in the community were struggling. This inspired the creation of a facility designed to foster health through education, engagement, and connection. Consequently, The Centre was developed as a privately funded community health centre.
The Centre consists of two large multipurpose fitness spaces for yoga, pilates, workshops, and lectures. There are 12 consulting suites ranging from allied health to out-patient hospital suites with shared amenities, reception, and foyer. These elements are organised in distinct zones: private and quiet consulting suites are separated from the more public and active spaces, such as the multipurpose rooms and the entrance, by ancillary areas like staff rooms and amenities. Courtyards adjacent to the multipurpose rooms are concealed behind a large north-facing screen facade, which serves as a buffer from the parking area and ensures privacy for the activities within, yet providing an outlook for these spaces. This screen helps to differentiate itself from the broader industrial context adding a softness to the building.
Located within the town’s industrial estate, the building’s design reflects the local context of simple, large, corrugated metal sheds. The street façade mimics the form of a pitched-roof shed, with a parapet concealing the roof’s central cut. This cut allows for highlight windows for cross ventilation on both sides of the building and incorporates a lower roof section that functions as a service platform.
To manage costs, the building employs a limited and simple material palette: corrugated cladding and roofing, oriented strand board (OSB), plasterboard, concrete flooring, and a large aluminium screen. The multipurpose area features Tarkett flooring, suitable for physical activities in lieu of a more expense sprung floor. The simple shed form is constructed with open gangnail trusses, providing higher interior spaces and using readily available materials to maintain cost-efficiency. Minimal steel was used to keep expenses low. The client, a plumber, contributed directly to the project by installing the corrugated roofing and cladding, which was specified to enable him to handle most of the installation himself.
Facing north, and biased to the south on the lot, the public areas gain plenty of light, filtered through the large screen. The service block through the middle of the project has lower ceilings to allow for views and light for the north and the south as the roof pops up above this block With the addition of some skylights, this means there is abundant natural light throughout the spaces, reducing the need for artificial lighting in a commercial building.
