Image Credit : Simon Whitbread
Project Overview
Windale Hub is a new library and community centre providing much-needed infrastructure to an under-served region. The design draws inspiration from the cultural richness of Windale and biodiversity of the surrounding area, while breathing new life into the commercial centre and providing locals with an inspiring place to come together.
Part civic building, part community living room, Windale Hub is split into four areas linked by an internal ‘street’; a Community Hall, Public Library, Community Offices and Youth Maker Space. The levels are connected via a sloping walkway that also hosts the library collection, offering all patrons equal access regardless of physical ability.
A perforated and folded metal screen serves to shade the facade and enliven the streetscape, the vivid colours of local wildflowers revealing themselves as you move around building, creating a sense of surprise and delight for everyday passersby. This seeks to invite the community to enter and make use of the facility, providing a collective safe place to come together, or quiet place to sit away from the stresses of home life.
Vaulted ceilings and internal courtyards draw in natural light and ventilation. The double gable forms are a nod to the post-war community hall that previously occupied the site, a reminder of the continued history of the site as local gathering place.
More than a building, Windale Hub is a place that welcomes and celebrates the cultural diversity of place, where the locals can gather, play, learn and be proud.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Adriano Pupilli
Matt Ryall
Aoiffe O'Kelly
Alex Volfman
Julia Koenig
Amir Shakya
Harry Murdoch
Alex Cassar
Emma Harrison
Project Brief
The Windale Hub addresses the brief for an inclusive, welcoming community facility through thoughtful design strategies that encourage people to connect, learn, create and collaborate. The spatial arrangement positions compatible activities together while enabling visual connections between other spaces to cross-pollinate activities across the site.
The facility's inclusive nature is achieved through intuitive wayfinding, accessible entry points, and indoor-outdoor connections that invite community engagement. The perforated metal screen with local wildflower colours creates visual interest while reinforcing a sense of place. The undulating roof not only responds to surrounding building scales and forms but also signals clear entry points, enhancing the intuitive navigation of the building.
Multi-purpose spaces with permeable boundaries encourage spontaneous interactions while still accommodating focused activities. The story-time steps and outdoor amphitheatre extend activities into the landscape, creating democratic gathering spaces accessible to all ages and abilities.
Interior vaulted ceilings and courtyards maximise natural light and ventilation, creating pleasant environments conducive to learning and creativity. The double gable forms honour the site's history by referencing the post-war community hall that was previously on the site, connecting present-day collaboration with the social history of the site.
The design transforms site constraints into opportunities - both in leveraging the sloping topography and implementing innovative structural solutions for the coal mine below. These technical responses support the broader social goals, creating a resilient community hub where people can proudly connect, learn, create and collaborate.
Project Innovation/Need
The project is the result of extensive community and stakeholder engagement, which meaningfully shaped the architectural outcome. This process has delivered more than just a building, it provides a new sense of hope, opportunity, inclusivity and identity; a place to come together to recognise and celebrate the cultural diversity and richness of Windale.
A people-centred approach is the key driver for design decisions. The project site is composed of three separate sites that were amalgamated. A post-war community hall, a one-room library and a charity service office previously occupied the three sites. The new facility needed to respond and strengthen these community uses.
The scheme relates to each of its three main frontages with specificity and its own unique intent, signalling to Lake Street, drawing in foot traffic along Shade Lane, and providing gathering and impromptu performance space via a landscaped amphitheatre and multipurpose car park. Interiors extend into the landscape, and the street permeates the interior via an internal 'street' that becomes the central circulation spine.
Simple design responses to site constraints become opportunities. A sloping walkway hosts the library collection while also connecting levels across a sloping site, offering all patrons the same access experience regardless of physical ability.
Externally the building undulates along Lake St, reaching its peak towards the adjacent shopping strip. The rhythm of the facade, roof forms and awnings respond to the surrounding residential and commercial context and signal points of entry and the different functions within. A building all about its people.
Design Challenge
Windale is an area of high socio-economic disadvantage where access to basic services such a working computer, the internet, a quiet place to prepare for a job interview, or a safe place for an infant to play is not always readily available at home.
The Windale Hub is a vibrant and welcoming new facility that seeks to encourage use by those who may not typically feel comfortable in a library. There is a domestic familiarity to aspects of the building such as the gable roof forms and sunken lounge setting. This is coupled with civic presence of the taller community hall and lofty library spaces.
Surprise and delight from the ever-changing facade captures local curiosity, activates the streetscape and conveys the activities within. Activities which extend beyond the typical reach of a library to include a community office and co-working space for local start-ups and community support services like Meals-on-Wheels.
A Kiosk fronts the central circulation spine and provides patrons with refreshments and doubles as a barista training facility. The Youth Maker Space provides young tinkerers with a space to learn and experiment with new fabrication techniques. A meeting room doubles as a band rehearsal space.
There is a richness of support activities beyond the typical scope of a library that have been carefully integrated into the Windale Hub. These draw in a great diversity of locals and, in doing so, enrich the social purpose and impact the building has on community wellbeing.
Sustainability
The building's sustainable design targets a 4 Star Green Star certification from the Green Building Council of Australia, demonstrating significant environmental commitment. Key sustainability features include photovoltaic solar arrays reducing grid dependency, rainwater harvesting systems minimising council infrastructure reliance, and lower operational costs through passive design strategies.
The architectural approach creates an effective passive environmental control system through expansive glazed curtain walls allowing natural light penetration, strategically positioned operable highlight windows enabling cross-ventilation, and two internal courtyards enhancing airflow and daylighting.
Biophilic design principles are integrated through visual and physical connections to nature and internal timber finishes, improving occupant wellbeing and productivity. Perforated screening elements provide a balanced solution - moderating solar gain while preserving views and natural lighting.
These elements work in concert to create a comprehensive, sustainable design that effectively addresses energy efficiency, water conservation, and human-centred principles within a cohesive architectural expression. The result is a building that not only performs efficiently but also creates healthy, productive spaces for its occupants.
The integrated approach to sustainability extends beyond technical systems to inform the building's overall form and aesthetic. By weaving environmental strategies into the architectural language, the design achieves a harmony between performance and expression. This holistic methodology represents contemporary best practices in sustainable architecture, where ecological responsibility becomes an intrinsic part of the building's identity rather than an applied overlay.
Architecture - Public and Institutional
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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