For 130 years, Buchan has created designs which have helped shape communities and experiences, addressing each new project with an exploratory and collaborative approach. To mark this anniversary, we are paying homage to the designs that have made our practice what it is today by envisioning a new future for projects past.
It is only fitting that we begin our journey in Geelong, where our first practice was opened in 1890; join us as we gaze through a window into the future to reconceptualise what lies ahead.
“Our choice of project pays homage to Buchan’s origins and widespread influence in the Geelong region”
– Grant Withers, Principal – Head of Design.
Set in the year 2040, “nova acqua thermae Geelong” reimagines the iconic Geelong State Government Offices which were conceived in 1987 during Llew Bawden, Craig Laird and John Buchan’s time with the company. Characterised by Brutalist architectural elements, most prominently the cranked exposed concrete structural element, the building still functions today as public servants’ offices.
Our team felt that its current function was at odds with the trending cultural transformation of Geelong, and that there was opportunity to create a response that would be inclusive and beneficial to the wider community.
“We envision a design where private functions become public space on the ground plane, in a gesture that gives back historically privatised and inaccessible space to the city and its inhabitants.”
– Hayden Federico, Architectural Graduate.
From an urban scale the site has the potential to connect with the surrounding civic precinct and public activity; given its proximity to Johnstone Park, the Arts Centre, and the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre. During the design process our studio studied historical Roman ‘themae et balnae’ (thermal baths) which were an important civic typology which demonstrate architecture at the center of public life with the bathing ritual at its heart.
As a Victorian city that was founded on its strategic location for shipping routes, the City of Geelong’s identity has always been characterised by water, and recreational bathing has become engrained in its culture. Naturally with these two characteristics in mind, the bathhouse is aligned to the cultural development of Geelong as an urban centre.
Mammoth water transportation infrastructure was often central to the Roman bathhouse. We foresee that integrated infrastructure will be imperative in the future built environment by reducing the distance for goods to travel and the energy required. This will be especially important for developing cities like Geelong where the population is expected to grow by more than 150,000 inhabitants by 2040.
And so, our design was born –
”Our vision is that the Geelong State Government Offices of 2040 will host not only a functional bathhouse, but also four active water collection and redistribution tanks to service Geelong, a regional town that is quickly transforming into one of Victoria’s urban centres.”
– Isabella Etna, Student of Architecture.
The tanks will provide water to the bathhouse, the city and the Bellarine, where the supply will come from the regions grey water. The repurposing of an existing structural container for integrated infrastructure solutions foreshadows the near future of our cities where consolidation of urban fabric will be an important solution to minimise the impact of construction, where reductions in material production and transport will be central. Our cities most innovative solutions will come from reducing the amount of new building materials by recycling existing fabric as structural containers.
Taking a collaborative approach to bringing the idea to life the Melbourne team worked alongside Graphical Thread, a creative studio in Melbourne who specialise in visualisation. The idea for the interior architecture was one of ‘dematerialisation’; just as the cloud of steam rises from the surface of the water, and the towels and cloths of bathers blow in the wind. From exterior to interior the old structural fabric ties into the interior atmosphere to reflect the transition of threshold states, solid liquid and gas. In the interior of the bathhouse, transparency and shadows of the retained concrete columns and beams intertwine in a chiaroscuro tension with the new local material palate that minimally furnish the trafficable surfaces of the bathhouse.
Project team
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