Responding to History – Multi-purpose Hall by Branch Studio Architects

In the rich traditions of the structuralist architectural movement, so prominent in Melbourne in the 1950s, the new Multi-purpose Hall at Caroline Chisholm College by Branch Studio Architects responds to the history of the local Braybrook environment.

A much-needed addition to the college’s landscape, the hall provides a setting for staff and students to come together for assemblies, celebrations and sporting events. With no amenity like it on the school’s grounds, the hall’s flexible floor plate can accommodate up to 2,100 seated students.

Structurally speaking, the mass of the building is broken up into two distinct volumes, as the large stadium space tapers down to the reduced scale of a suburban street and houses the building’s other amenities.

With the architectural outcome responding to the site’s context and culture, the building sees a series of operable glass fire-station doors open to surrounding ovals and playgrounds, presenting the option to facilitate larger groups under an expanding ‘canopy’ if required.

The northern elevation of the building opens up to the football oval and creates a continuity of landscape – an adjacent grassed viewing area with steps to create seating and flexible activity zones. This external domain is partly covered by a cantilevered awning that provides weather protection during lunch breaks and combines with the saw-toothed high-level windows to permit natural light into the stadium throughout the day.

The northern elevation of the building opens up to the football oval and creates a continuity of landscape – an adjacent grassed viewing area with steps to create seating and flexible activity zones..

The structure itself is externally clad in three primary materials. Operable glass dominates the lower section of the façade, allowing flexibility of the indoor and external spaces. The middle section sees concrete cladding wrap the south, east and west façades, gently terminating at ground level on the building’s northern side, whilst translucent polycarbonate at the highest points filters light into the interior.

Structurally speaking, the mass of the building is broken up into two distinct volumes, as the large stadium space tapers down to the reduced scale of a suburban street and houses the building’s other amenities. It is here that the administration offices, changing rooms and a gymnasium, amongst other storage and backroom areas, are found.

A much-needed addition to the college’s landscape, the hall provides a setting for staff and students to come together for assemblies, celebrations and sporting events.

By orienting the building in this manner, it transitions between a residential proportion on the Darnley Street side and the larger scale of the college grounds’ educational buildings.

In this Multi-purpose Hall, Branch Studio Architects effectively navigates a balance between a residential side-street setting and the pragmatic needs of a school environment. The lower volume is adeptly sensitive to the surrounding houses, while the internal height of the stadium provides an appropriate scale for both its occupants and the educational environment. A rich native palette of plantings and landscaping rounds out this highly site-specific structure with aplomb, ensuring the Multi-purpose Hall’s value to the school environment for decades to come.