Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation
Victoria
Balam Balam Place demonstrates how urban design can sponsor social, cultural and ecological exchange within an evolving suburb. Rather than privileging a singular building outcome, the project is conceived as a campus within a park: a constellation of new and adapted buildings embedded within a continuous public realm. The retention and adaptation of the former school and heritage structures alongside new community buildings establishes continuity with the site’s layered histories while enabling new civic programs to emerge over time. This approach positions the project as urban infrastructure—capable of accommodating change, intensification and evolving community needs. Balam Balam Place creates amenity beyond its boundaries, actively stitching itself into Brunswick’s public life. It strengthens the public realm, anticipates future change and models a generous, connected and resilient approach to making the city. It is a place that acknowledges Brunswick’s past, speaks confidently of its present and has agency in its evolving future.
Award For Urban Design
What would you like to do? Balam Balam Place generously asks this question and invites the community to respond. Hire a studio, host an event, run a workshop. Join in, participate, learn. Or just inhabit the place. You get to choose.
Located on a former institutional site, this new civic precinct is home to a campus of buildings set within landscape spaces providing a welcoming and inclusive place for community. The project demonstrates a sensitive approach to renewal. Existing heritage has been retained, including the 1880’s Sherwood House, now surrounded by endemic plants that disrupt its colonial presence. A 1950’s school building, stripped of its façade, is now a covered outdoor area. Adding to these layers is a wonderful contemporary building housing community and cultural spaces.
Much of the precinct is dedicated to open space, ranging from areas of lawn to hard surfaces that support everything from respite to messy making activities. New pedestrian links provide connections within and beyond the site. Informed by the needs of the local community, Balam Balam Place is an exemplar for urban renewal and civic space. Thoughtfully considered, but with a sense of being incomplete, it enables the community to imagine what happens next.
Award For Urban Design
What would you like to do? Balam Balam Place generously asks this question and invites the community to respond. Hire a studio, host an event, run a workshop. Join in, participate, learn. Or just inhabit the place. You get to choose.
Located on a former institutional site, this new civic precinct is home to a campus of buildings set within landscape spaces providing a welcoming and inclusive place for community. The project demonstrates a sensitive approach to renewal. Existing heritage has been retained, including the 1880’s Sherwood House, now surrounded by endemic plants that disrupt its colonial presence. A 1950’s school building, stripped of its façade, is now a covered outdoor area. Adding to these layers is a wonderful contemporary building housing community and cultural spaces.
Much of the precinct is dedicated to open space, ranging from areas of lawn to hard surfaces that support everything from respite to messy making activities. New pedestrian links provide connections within and beyond the site. Informed by the needs of the local community, Balam Balam Place is an exemplar for urban renewal and civic space. Thoughtfully considered, but with a sense of being incomplete, it enables the community to imagine what happens next.
“There are moments in the building, gentle, thoughtful moments that allow for the play of light or breeze or people to transport you out of your everyday and into a remarkable hybrid of civic and domestic interaction.” The way a building can show the strength of infrastructure, and the care of home is not an easy task but it has been done here with such rigour and generosity it invokes a reciprocal response from those that come to be here, they arrive in awe of it and leave in love with it.”
Joseph Norster – Co-Director, The Projects, Balam Balam Place
Rachel Nolan, Design Architect
Patrick Kennedy, Design Architect
Victoria Reeves, Design Architect
Michael Macleod, Design Architect
Candice Chan, Project Architect
Bradley Kerr, Architect
Danny Truong, Architect
Wyndham Cameron, Architect
Estelle Peter, Architect
Openwork, Landscape Consultant
Finding Infinity, ESD Consultant
These Are The Projects We Do Together, User Experience & Community Consultant
Jordan Rowe, Spatial Branding & Wayfinding Consultant
Tim Rob Don Dow, Strategic Consultant
Lovell Chen, Heritage Consultant
Greenshoot, Community Consultant
Urbis, Town Planner
Brogue, Engineer
BRT, Engineer
Octave, Acoustic Consultant
One Mile Grid, Traffic Engineer
Architecture & Access, Access Consultant
Zinc Cost Planning, Quantity Surveyor
Metro BS, Transport Consultant
JAZ & DDEG, Engineer