State-of-the-art care nestled into suburban surrounds.
The John Fawkner Private Hospital expansion is a welcomed addition to health services for the northern suburbs of Melbourne, with a state-of-the-art critical care complex integrated within the existing residential streetscape.
Providing health services for more than 75 years to the local community, the original John Fawkner Private Hospital main building dates to the 1930s and is a recognized landmark in Coburg. The new expansion includes an additional 51 new beds over two levels, day surgery unit, additional operating theatres, new reception and patient administration area, a new sterile supply department, and multi-deck car park to alleviate on-street parking needs.
The expansion in respectful and sympathetic to its residential surroundings. The perceived scale of the development is minimized by splitting the new expansion into a front and back building, with a quiet unobtrusive entrance off the main road on Glencairn Avenue.
The smaller front entrance building acts as mediator between the public streetscape and the larger hospital building behind it. The experience of entering the hospital is reimagined to be a welcoming and supportive experience that is more reminiscent of visiting a domestic property, with low wooden picket fencing, gentle landscaping and warm lighting pleasantly inviting patients and visitors inside. Towards to back of the expansion, the multi-deck car park is complimented by a green wall that softens and integrates the building further with the surrounding neighbourhood of Coburg.
Lightweight fibre cement panels in dark grey and brick red form the front building’s facade. This directly relates to the typology of the local suburban architecture and connects with the residential street at a domestic scale. Warm-toned materials in the back-building match the brick and exposed slab edge of the existing building to create a discreet transition in material and scale.
The expansion prioritises security and privacy for patients and residential neighbours. Carefully designed angular bay windows face away from neighbouring spaces, while maximising natural light into inpatient rooms.
Location – Coburg, Victoria
Client – Healthscope
Completed – 2019
