Essendon Football Club & Australian Paralympic High Performance Training Centre
Client
Essendon Football Club
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Value
AUD $25M
Known as ‘The Hangar’, The Essendon Football Club & Australian Paralympic High Performance Training Centre is an elite training facility for Australian Football League players and Australian paralympic athletes.
The building form appears like a large aeroplane hangar, drawing from its Melbourne Airport context, and is arranged to minimise the impact of the prevailing winds that roar across the western planes.
The building’s success lies in the spatial planning that facilitates both formal and informal user interaction. Athletes’ facilities and medical suites are located on the ground floor. Administration, teaching facilities and coach’s offices are located on the second floor. A generous atrium with a welcoming stair connects the levels – its perforated metal red balustrading reflecting the club jumper.
Project features
The architecture and structural system are integrated, allowing the metal cladding to be fixed directly. This improved construction efficiency in terms of time and reduced material costs with fixing battens not required.
- A state of the art gymnasium;
- A large indoor training area;
- 3 indoor basketball courts;
- An altitude training centre;
- A simulation training area;
- A 25m training pool with aquatic recovery areas;
- Medical and sports science facilities;
- Club administration and office spaces;
- Two large outdoor training ovals; and
- Sports administration for the EFC and Australian Paralympic Committee.
