Repositioning the Club for the New Millennium with Dynamic Architecture.
Places of community gathering in Australia have traditionally been denoted by a strong singular architecture. The iconic form of the old style community hall was easily recognised and distinguished within in any community. However in more contemporary times, there has been almost no distinguishable difference in character between commercial, public and leisure buildings; everything looks the same. As a society, we generally don’t set aside such places by a special or unique design. Attending a place of leisure, entertainment and dining should be celebrated. Where the building as a symbol of that place engenders a sense of excitement and anticipation, whilst for club members, a unique character gives pride and a sense of belonging, and for visitors and guests alike, a contemporary expression indicates a place that is modern, fresh and invigorating to enjoy. The existing Club Southside building, it’s visibility and identity is relatively indistinguishable, set well back from the street, at a lower level from the street and appears as a non-descript box, identified and memorable only by signage. The best buildings don’t need signs; they are memorable because they can only be one thing!
In our proposal for the redevelopment of the Club Southside, we propose to reposition the building in the public mindset. The intention is to exhibit an exciting and inviting contemporary character, one that is memorable and identifies a strong address appropriate to a place of entertainment, leisure and dining in this suburban location. We have also been conscious not to develop an architecture which is either to grandiose or intimidating, something which is not relevant to the club’s patrons, and not alienating, whilst still bringing the club into the future. The design of the redevelopment, particularly the exterior architecture, uses a palette of readily available commercial materials and structure, easy to source and to pre-construct ensuring economy and efficiency.
Rather than simply continuing the flat roof and large box scale of the existing building, we propose to articulate the new spaces as separate but linked bold rectilinear forms with higher skillion roofs, loosely arranged in a curve, all addressing the street to the south and the main entry to the east. Between the forms of the new building will be located a series of landscaped courtyards and terraces screened by green landscape hedges over new trellis screens, for privacy. These spaces will allow the entry of significant amounts of natural light, and private views to the gardens from inside, whilst offering sheltered external spaces of respite and contemplation. The new buildings will be constructed of an engineered steel frame, similar to that used for normal commercial buildings, and external cladding uses standard wide profile colorbond wall and roof sheeting in an imaginative and striking manner. Wall sheets of varying light metallic colours, also in varying widths are used at an oblique angle, displaying non regular patterns which will further enhance the dynamic forms of the building, whilst giving a human scale.
The metallic colours of the colorbond steel wall cladding, offer a higher quality than might normally be expected, at an economical price. The play of light and shadow on the walls at varying angles around the building, along with special night time illumination, mostly from “up lights” creates a memorable and attractive sculptural form, unlike any other in this part of the world. This is a rich contemporary architecture, full of interest, a strong appearance at any scale and yet all able to be delivered very economically. Club Southside will be repositioned in the community mindset, with a seemingly new building, welcoming and embracing all generations with modern, fresh and exciting new facilities.
