“The architectural stairs in the vertical campus design for the MLC Senior Centre are like the interconnecting arteries of a collaborative learning hub.”
Architect: BVN
Client: MLC Burwood
Builder: Lipman
Location: Rowley St, Burwood
Photographer: The Guthrie Project
Work Completed by Active Metal
Structural steel stairs, steel plate void balustrades, structural steel bridges, glass balustrade to void edges, timber treads to stair, glazed booth framing, operable wall support, canopy steelwork, roof steel work, tactile indicators
Overview
MLC Senior Centre, recently recognised with a commendation in the 2020 Learning Environments Australasia Awards, is truly and innovation in learning space. The building also took out an MBA Award in 2019 for Lipman
Futuristic in design, the building seamlessly mixes industrial elements such as concrete and steel with warm natural materials like cork and wood to create an inspiring learning environment that borrows many of it’s cues from cutting edge commercial office environments. And in a world that has been radically changed forever in 2020 by the onslaught of the global COVID pandemic, this design is more relevant than ever, and is ahead of it’s game! As a vertical campus design that spreads over 4 floors, vertical movement is not restricted primarily to lifts as it would be in a commercial environment. In the MLC Senior Centre, students can move effortlessly between levels and study zones by way of the numerous architectural stairs and bridges provided. Suspended pods also project into the atrium void to provide private study and meeting zones with a seemingly 360 degree outlook.
Active Metal seamlessly interpreted BVN’s design intent delivering the interconnecting steel staircases, bridges, pod framing and balustrades to a high standard befitting of such an iconic and award winning project. The project also featured some uniquely developed aluminium balustrade cover plates that served to finish off the concrete void edges consistently with a fine degree of detail.
The project also featured in a recent edition of InDesign.
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