Community Engagement & Wellness Centre (CEW)
The new facility is a Community Engagement and Wellness Centre. It will be an on-campus clinic that provides
the students studying the various School of Community Health courses an opportunity to apply their newly
developed coursework skills in an authentic clinical work environment dealing with real people with real issues.
An aim of the new centre is to move away from reactive medical treatment by encouraging “wellness” through prevention and intervention based
services. Consequently the centre will have an innovative role in health care. Students will learn inter-professional competencies for collaborative
team-based practice where clients can come to the centre to have their health issues identified and treated by a variety of health service
professionals under the one roof. The services on offer include podiatry, physiotherapy, psychology, speech pathology and occupational therapy,
amongst others.
The concept shows a building “facing” Ellis Street providing good community exposure. A vehicle ramp
leads up from Ellis Street to an undercover “drop off” zone at the main building entry. The plan for the
building is an efficient arrangement of spaces that have a logic and order that define and rationalise the
building form and function. The building has three distinct parts to it:
• Northern administration and staff services zone containing reception, offices, records, utilities and
staff amenities.
• Southern “clinical” wing containing 10 x Treatment Rooms, 4 x Consultation Rooms and a Surgical
Procedure room with associated stores, staff offices and utilities.
• Central “community” zone containing the waiting area, visitor amenities, and the community focussed
multi-purpose and gymnasium spaces with some associated interview rooms and equipment stores.
The “community” zone forms a central “spine” to the building. This spine is reflected in the building
form with a projecting roof expressed as a “wave” which projects either end of the building to create a
covered terrace to the west and porte-cochere over the main entry to the east. This sculptural feature of
the building, enables the flanking north and south wings to be treated as a backdrop Where the “wave”
roof physically connects to the building there are clerestory windows around the perimeter giving the
impression of a roof hovering above the building. Consequently, there is an open and transparent feel
to the communal zone which should make clients feel welcome, comfortable and expressing a sense of
community engagement.
At either end of the building there are two projecting pods, being the procedure and preop rooms at the south and staff lounge at the north, which are again treated as sculptural
elements. These are designed to reflect the forms of and make reference to the nearby
dentistry building. The general building colours are designed to harmonise with the
adjacent Peter Till Building.
The project includes the use of rainwater storage tanks to harvest rainwater which is then
used within the building and for irrigation of the Landscaped surrounds. A solar/gas hot
water system provides hot water to the building.
The building includes an extensive Audio Visual system that allows staff and students
to record and/or remotely observe sessions in various rooms including the Procedure
room, a Consultation room and a Treatment room. These rooms are fitted with a ceiling
mounted camera that can be controlled from the Clinical Educators & Student Write Up
room. A second camera is mounted on the Examination Light positioned near the patient
for close up video capture and a ceiling mounted microphone provides audio capture in
these rooms. An interview room is also provided with a remote Audio Visual monitoring and
recording system.
Builder: Hansen Yuncken Pty Ltd
Gross Floor Area: 981m2
Total Cost: $4.998m
Year of Completion: 2012
Architect: NBRS+PARTNERS
Structural Engineer: Wright Barrat
Electrical, Mechanical and Hydraulic Engineer: ADADRA Building Services Group
Landscape Architects: Somewhere Landscape Architects
EQUIPMENT/AV
FLOOR PLAN - LEVEL 01
CONSUMABLES
ACC. WC/SHR
STORE 2
(CLINIC)
CONSUMABLES
STORE 1
EDUCATORS
& STUDENTS
WRITE-UP
BIOMECHANICS/
GAIT
ROOM
WC/PLAY AREA ENTRY &
DRINKING WATER STATION
CLEANERS
HANDWASH
BAY
AIRLOCK
WC M
ACC. WC
-VISITOR
WC F VISITOR
ENTRANCE
MAIN
ENTRY
RECEPTION
FOYER
ENTRY FOYER /
WHEELCHAIR
BAY
OFFICE
ACC.
WC/SHR STAFF
R
1