Location: Heidelberg VIC Owner: Austin Hospital Architect: Health Science Planning Consultants Builder: Kane Constructions Bricklayer: GC Bricklaying Project cost: $17 million Austral Bricks products: • Elements Graphite clay bricks • Nubrik Pressed Red clay bricks (This page, from top) Architect Peter Timmins considered alternative walling materials but chose face brickwork for its robustness and low ongoing costs. The slit windows are neatly detailed with sill bricks. The Elements Graphite clay bricks have a lustrous semi-glazed finish. The unit consists of two wards – Acute (main image) and Secure (inset image). The facade utilises a range of materials and colours to break down its apparent mass.   MARCH 2007

When the ‘Austin Hospital for Incurables’ was founded 125 years ago, Heidelberg was a rural area near Melbourne that inspired artists such as Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin, the ‘Heidelberg School.’

The Austin Hospital is now a multi-campus, multi-disciplinary, teaching, research and treatment facility. Long renowned for its pioneering work in cancer, respiratory diseases and spinal medicine, the Austin recently expanded its mental health precinct with the opening of a 55-bed facility.

The long, narrow corner site sits at the top of the Burgundy Street hill. Deep excavation was required to level the site such that the roof of the single-storey complex is well below busy Upper Heidelberg Road which flanks the long western boundary.

The facility has two distinct wings: an acute ward and a secure ward. Designing a mental health facility “requires a different mindset in terms of planning,” says Peter Timmins of Health Science Planning Consultants, a specialist arm of Peddle Thorp Architects (founded in Melbourne, coincidentally, just seven years after the Austin Hospital).

Ted Doufas was the project director, and handled planning and design issues. Askold Petersen and Chris Doufas worked on the external design, and Peter Timmins had carriage of the documentation and onsite administration.

Staff stations are usually placed at the hub with wards radiating in four directions. The narrowness of this site required placing three “spokes” on one side of the “hub”.

Inside and out, it is seen as important for these facilities to have a domestic feel rather than institutional. “Brick on this type of building is an obvious selection,” Peter Timmins says simply. Alternative materials were considered but largely rejected for their lack of robustness, or their need for finishing (and refinishing).

Three brick colours were chosen to break down the mass of the façade, articulated with fibrecement sheet elements. The structure is decidedly residential, built on a single level, with brick veneer over steel framing supporting a trussed roof.

Brickwork was chosen as much for its durability and cost-effectiveness, a tribute to its low maintenance qualities. “Brick is a material that gives it that sort of residential scale,” Peter Timmins concludes. “But it’s more a question of achieving a facade that is robust in its own right and is low maintenance.”

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