Description:

A rapidly growing patient roster was the catalyst for this community-focused medical centre and pharmacy. The aspirational brief called for a positive environment for staff and patients, encompassing consulting rooms, a surgery, waiting room, offices, amenities, and dedicated breakout space for employees.

The design is site responsive, planned around the narrow section, required 1.2-metre floor levels and an existing weatherboard building. Assigning the high-traffic pharmacy to this street-front shop, the original building was restored to preserve the local heritage, allowing the rest of the medical centre to play out in a collage of purpose-built forms behind.

The core of the surgery lies within the black brick, ground-floor building with dual access via the pharmacy and car park. The staunch brick and timber cladding is echoed within the waiting room to reaffirm the building's identity, generously softened by natural light. In a clear division of private and public spaces, the staff-only facilities hover in the cantilevered white steel box above, privy to slender views of the beach and the wider community it serves.