Saltwater Coast is a new housing subdivision on the western shores of Port Phillip Bay that will accommodate approximately 4,000 residents. Targeting the aspirational second home buyer, the new lifestyle centre acts as both a community centre and private recreation club for the residents.

As well as containing a gym, pools, and function and flexible community spaces, the brief called for a building that would project an image befitting the new suburb and be respectful of the local environment and coastal landscape.

DESIGN DESCRIPTION

The Lifestyle Centre is a coastal pavilion in a suburban setting where developers had also invested in public spaces with carefully considered landscape design. The new facility sits on a prominent corner opposite one of the new and elaborate linear parks.

The symbolic image of an old timber fence running through the sand at the beach informed the selection of rough coastal timber used extensively in the new landscape. The timber cladding for the Lifestyle Centre was an extension of this thinking.

Architecture and landscape work together in this project to extend the sensitive coastal environment into and around the new lifestyle building.

The functional demands on the design were resolved simply within a two storey L-shaped configuration. The building was sited to capture the distant views to the city, and for the best passive solar and environmental performance.

Using a restrained palette of timber, glass and dark bronze, the architects sought to give the centre a strong civic dimension and the monumentality and permanence of a public building,

The form was kept deliberately lean and the cladding materials kept to a minimum to promote the idea of monumentality. Timber was used as the main cladding material to connect the building into the coastal landscape, with a glazed brick base used to make references to the local suburban housing.

Spotted gum was specified as the external timber for its durability in a tough coastal environment and rich colour when oiled. It was also commercially available in cladding profiles and decking profiles to match.

It was important for the fixings to the external cladding to be robust. The Woodform system is a tongue and groove board with a concealed screw fixing, and the timber boards are finished with clear preservative oil.

ACCOLADES

RAIA Victoria Awards, Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture, 2012

Intergrain Timber Vision Awards, Best Commercial Exterior, 2012

PRODUCTS

TIMBER
WOODFORM ARCHITECTURAL 

POOLS
PROCON POOLS 

TENNIS COURTS
KEVIN MCNAMARA & SON

HAND RAILS & FENCES 
LEAVER LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENTS 

MASONRY
DAMPIER BRICKLAYING

TIMBER CLADDING
WOODFORM ARCHITECTURAL 

FEATURE TIMBER BATTENS
SPOTTED GUM TIMBER TO MATCH CLADDING BAORDS

TIMBER COATING
CUTEK CD50 CLEAR PRESERVATIVE OIL