“An inviting central heart for the community that celebrates participation, belonging and civic pride.”

 The City of Casey is proud to deliver this state-of-the-art community facility comparable to the best of its type in Australia. The $125m precinct on the 1.6 hectare site is one of the largest and most complex construction projects undertaken by local government.  
 

  “An inviting central heart for the community that celebrates participation, belonging and civic pride.”
 

 Leading design agency Büro North created wayfinding signage for Bunjil Place based upon user demographics, site analysis and concepts informed by the architect’s design vision.  They too referenced the story of Bunjil the Eagle and balanced the signage and typography to blend seamlessly while being highly functional.   

 Council challenged the design team to ensure as many of the public spaces were accessible at ground level as possible. In doing so, the design resulted in the majority of public functions of the building gathered along a meandering spine of the 1,000 square metre ground floor foyer. This is an anomaly compared to the majority of Local Government offices where uses are segregated, and officers are typically in a separate building.  Each day the employees meet and share space with the people they serve.  

Much of the building’s warmth and texture comes from the architect’s choice of natural materials, a quality for which fjmt have become renowned. The construction materials are predominately concrete and steel, which play an important but hidden role in the building’s structure, while timber veneer panelling, laminated timber and painted plasterboard are used in the mixture of surface materials.  

One of the timbers that have a significant presence within the Bunjil Place interior is the Blackbutt veneer panels which line the internal walls and unify the various interior spaces.  

Incredibly, the Blackbutt timber used for Bunjil Place originated from a single tree free from blemishes and saved by a sawmill / sustainably sources.  Sourced from New South Wales and kept by the supplier for many years until the right project appeared, the tree yielded an incredible 6,000m2 of veneer.  To create the veneer finish, the tree was sliced into millimetre thin sheets and applied to composite board. The Blackbutt veneer can also be seen on the walls of the theatre’s interior where certain panels have been modified for the management of sound quality through a series of acoustically-rated perforations that took around four hours to drill in each panel.   

The curved timber gridshell was one of the most labored and complex features of the building to produce.  Only two companies in the world had the capability to create the amazing structure, and it was the first in the world for this particular design and complexity.  The gridshell is made from multiple curved laminated layers of sustainably sourced birch and spruce woods. 

Constructed by specialist company HESS Timber in Germany, the gridshell underwent many drawings, tests and modeling before fabrication commenced. Machinery to bend each section of timber needed to be specially designed and manufactured to make this project possible. Each piece of timber is unique and once shipped in containers from Germany it needed to be installed in a very specific order with custom made interlocking plates and bolts. Crews worked in 3 24 hour shifts to meet the construction deadline. It is effectively like a sophisticated flat packed Ikea feature, just without the Allen Key!

As it reaches the ceiling and spreads out it is filled in with perforated timber panels which help dull ambient noise and means the space is not echoey and loud as foyers often can be.  Although nothing can compensate for the buzz of an excited pre-show crowd.

Sustainability has been carefully considered through the building’s orientation, with the extended eaves and glass selection and placement also contributing to the effectiveness of the buildings 

passive heating and protection from changing climatic elements.   

For the 12 m high entry facade, a specific glass, called iron glass has been used. This glass is comprised of two layers of 14mm glass sheets laminated together, with an interlay that offers structural support to prevent shattering.  The glass is low iron, making it one of the clearest glass products available.   

The large sheets of glass were melted into a special mould to achieve the exact curve of the building.  They are stacked vertically on top of each other and are self-supporting, held together with structural adhesive.  In other words, it has been built with double sided tape, but obviously with industrial strength. 

Columns were needed to manage the wind blowing against the glass.  However the view of the timber gridshell was critical to the architecture, so heavy steel columns weren’t going to be acceptable.  To solve this problem the architects developed a sophisticated transparent glass column in collaboration with the structural engineers, which sandwiches together multiple pieces of strengthened laminated glass that is clamped together with metal discs.  You can see from the outside how clear and airy the sightlines into the foyer are as a result. 

The copper coloured timber finish used on the exterior of the building is a laminated product called Prodema. This material which was sourced from Spain, was chosen by the architects for its sustainable qualities and environmental stability.  Prodema has exceptional qualities resistant to humidity, and is often used in rooms housing swimming pools, spas and saunas.  The material is highly resistant to impact, fire and exposure to direct sunlight, making it an ideal choice for the Australian outdoor environmental conditions.