Kaurna
South Australia
Completed in June 2024, Norwood Ambulance Station is Adelaide’s latest ‘hub’ facility, strategically positioned at Magill and Portrush Roads to improve SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) response times. The $8.5M project replaces ageing infrastructure while supporting increasing demand.
Designed by Greenway Architects, the station balances functionality with contextual sensitivity. Feature brickwork references Magill Road’s industrial past, while a landscaped perimeter enhances its civic presence. Internally, the design prioritises staff well-being, moving beyond clinical aesthetics to create a welcoming workplace.
With capacity for seven operational vehicles, the facility includes garaging, training rooms, staff amenities, and dedicated wellness spaces. Sustainable features include passive design principles and a 5-kilowatt solar system. The design ensures long-term adaptability, reinforcing SAAS’s evolving healthcare model.
A landmark project at a prominent metropolitan intersection, Norwood Ambulance Station exemplifies architectural excellence in emergency healthcare infrastructure, strengthening community resilience and response capabilities.
Navigating a complex and highly visible site, the architects worked skilfully with a new approach to methodologies and operations for SAAS. The Norwood Ambulance Station draws from the surrounding residential context, and through domestic detailing, has responded with an appropriateness of scale that is modest and utilitarian. Thoughtful planning resolves frontage, acoustic and access challenges to enable operational efficiency. Dedicated retreat spaces support staff wellbeing, providing sensory respite and reset. Through a cost-conscious approach, a considered balance is struck across stakeholder needs, retaining a sensitivity to context.
Peter Tynan, Director
Brett Coshell, Project Architect
Jessica Alderslade, Design Architect
Benjamin Mammone, Graduate of Architecture
Klaira Griffin, Interior Designer
Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec, Structural Engineer
Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec, Civil Consultant
BCA Engineers, Services Consultant
Oxigen, Landscape Consultant
Resonate, Acoustic Consultant
Turner & Townsend, Cost Consultant
Karko Creations, Artist
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.
