By Kelly Architects
The Dunkeld Community Centre is a refurbishment and extension project to the existing community hall.
The centre includes a 300m2 multipurpose Community Gathering Space, two consulting suites, general office area, meeting rooms, commercial grade kitchen, kiosk/bar area, new toilets and shower, green room, purpose built RSL meeting space and a chapel for the local Uniting Church congregation.
The Gathering Space features a large north facing highlight window that fills the space with natural daylight and will be used to heat and cool the space through passive solar techniques. The Gathering Space also consist 57m of operable walls which can be moved about the room to create over 40 different area configurations or be removed completely to open the space up into one large room.
The exterior cladding to this extension is sandstone sourced from Dunkeld’s own Mt Shadwell quarry and is laid in a freestone pattern similar to several other buildings in the town. The roof of the extension will be a large sheltering red triangle symbolising the non-rectilinear shapes and colour of the Grampians sandstone.
Photography by: Hillary Finch
Kelly Architects is a Geelong based architectural practice with a strong connection and on-going support to rural communities and not-for-profit organisations.
Our projects span from Edenhope at the states Western boarder to Sale, deep in the Eastern Gippsland region.
The majority of our completed work is in South West Victoria and Melbourne’s outer Eastern Suburbs.
Our major projects are primary schools, health care facilities and community buildings. We work with communities that value their own talents, culture and environment, be they education providers, health care providers, local government councils or volunteer groups.
We have a reputation of strong listening and guidance to community groups through engagement workshops and forming personal relationships with our clients. Evening workshops were conducted at Dunkeld, Edenhope and Derrinallum for their projects were volunteers were most available outside of regular business hours. Weekend discussions suited the staff and parent groups of St Michael’s Primary School Berwick and St John’s Primary School Dennington. Our projects become of personal interest to us and we become part of the community we work with.