Lyons add another civic project to their portfolio
Works are about to commence on the Brimbank Community and Civic Centre, heralding another addition to architecture firm Lyons expanding civil and educational repertoire. Construction tenders are due for the complex, which is expected will deliver a first-class outcome for the local community.
The design includes an exceptional new Sunshine Library set over the first two floors with a large double height reading room and areas for different user groups including children, teens, and adults.
A new customer service centre and a local history interpretive centre make up the ground floor footprint. The second floor also includes a learning centre and community rooms, the council chamber, and an exhibition space.
Brimbank City Council: Brimbank Community and Civic Centre
The $52 million facility will also showcase a slice of Sunshine's history, with a heritage harvester machine relocated to the building and potentially suspended from the ceiling within the foyer. Lyons have also incorporated a saw tooth element to the facade, in recognition of the Sunshine Harvester Works which were prevalent onsite in times gone by.
When complete the Brimbank Community and Civic Centre is hoped to become a design beacon within the wider Sunshine town centre which is progressively undergoing renewal. Brimbank City Council hope the building will set a benchmark for the quality of future projects, while also facilitating additional development within the precinct which has provisions for 30m (10 level residential) buildings according to structure plans.
The Brimbank Community and Civic Centre will join two existing municipal buildings designed by Lyons. Seen below, Hume City Council's offices were completed during 2007 and promptly won the National Australian Institute of Architects' Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture in 2008.
More recently The City of Greater Dandenong Municipal Building Project was opened earlier in 2014. Similar to Brimbank's new domicile, the mixed-use Dandenong complex includes the city's new offices, a public library, community meeting rooms and Council Chambers. A landscaped civic square and retail shops round out the 13,000m² facility.
Many design elements are evident over all three buildings in a uniquely Lyons style, including the use of bold colours, embellished entry points and liberally applied external louvres. In a wider context Lyons have successfully delivered a swag of large municipal and tertiary projects in recent years; it seems that when a design statement is required in such a context, Lyons are the architecture firm of choice.
The Brimbank Community and Civic Centre's construction program will see works begin next month, with the Sunshine Library and Customer Service Centre being temporarily relocated for the period of construction. All going to plan the new facility will be ready for occupancy mid-2016.
