Callum O'Reilly - MADA NOW 2021 - Art, Design and Architecture

The final semester of my Master of Architecture explored the idea of community building in a post-pandemic world. With the COVID-19 Pandemic putting a stop to a sense of community due to the inability to interact with one another, a damaging effect was created on the health and well-being of a large amount of members of the community. As a result, a need for designing architecture that promoted integration was necessary. The project addresses the fragmented zones of the area, focusing especially on connecting the industrial area with the residential by providing a mixed-use complex that caters to the communities needs.

Clayton Community Centre – Gardiner Road Perspective

With the fragmented state of the existing community within Clayton, the Clayton Community Centre is a project that brings residents, students, sportsperson and professionals within the one complex. Located on a site that consisted of only two silos amongst the various neighbouring warehouses, the project inhabits and expands upon these forms to create a design that celebrates the industrial nature of the area.

Clayton Community Centre – Courtyard Interface

The project offers a range of programs to cater for the different users within the area, these programs include:
- Sports facilities
- Playground
- Amphitheater
- Cafe / Restaurant & Bar
- Food court
- Offices
- Laboratories / Workshops
- Exhibition Hall

The spaces have been placed around an internal courtyard, which becomes the place of integration and connection between the different users, ultimately serving as the heart of the project.

Clayton Community Centre – Silo Reuse

Rather than completely rebuild, the design reuses the existing silos in order to limit the embodied energy needed to remove and reconstruct. In doing so, the water within the silos has been emptied into the large ponds that also capture the rainwater from the project. The water is filtered by passing through a settling pond, then by moving through a stony area to aerate, then into a filtering pond containing plants, and finally into a purified pond, ready for reuse. With the silos now empty, they have been retrofitted with an amphitheatre space, and a playground.

Site Plan

Situated between an industrial and residential zone, the project provides a connection for these differing realms by extending the footpaths from the existing conditions.

Four Principles

With the design being positioned on the border of an industrial and residential zone, the design is able to CONNECT the differing communities. Within the project are spaces where these differing users may STAY and integrate. In addition, in order to promote health and well-being within the community in a post-pandemic world, the project also offers PLAY facilities for all age groups. Not only may you physically engage with the site, but also mentally through the various spaces that offer the ability to WORK & LEARN.