Mental Health Facility

The soothing, warm and curative properties of timber, beautifully and powerfully protected by CUTEK®, sets a new benchmark in design for the treatment of mental illness. Bates and Smart’s Dandenong Mental Health facility embraced timber during the design process. The calming and warm characteristics of timber made it the logical primary building material for a healthcare facility and allows the building to integrate into the dense residential neighbourhood. The project consolidated residential, research, training, and administration functions into a single, purpose-built facility. The extensive use of interior and exterior timber provides warmth, texture, patterning, a non-institutional feel, and low embodied energy. Coated in CUTEK® Extreme CD50, the grain and tactility remain present and not masked over. CUTEK® Extreme CD50 applied to the exterior blackbutt timber offers maximum protection against Melbourne’s unpredictable weather. The design team decided against adding a CUTEK® Colourtone, instead allowing the Blackbutt to gracefully transform from a warm brown to a silver grey over time. Completely exposed to the elements, the dimensional stability properties of CUTEK® Extreme CD50 provide long-term protection against cupping, splitting and warping. Even when the timber silvers over time, the protective mechanisms of CUTEK® Extreme CD50 will still be at work to repel gas phase moisture. It was important that the exterior cladding be highly durable and low maintenance. CUTEK® Extreme CD50 improves the long-term durability of the timber and offers easy, simple and cost-effective maintenance. Simply clean and recoat – no sanding or stripping required. The cladding was precoated off-site before installation to simplify and streamline the onsite construction process. Product: Extreme CD50 Colour Clear Application: External Cladding Materials: Blackbutt Location: Victoria, Australia