The hall was built between 1885 and 1890 to the design of local architect George R. Johnson in the Second Empire style, and it is rich in detail with prominent mansard roofs and pyramid domes. It is widely considered one of the finest town halls in Australia.
Fire destroyed the interiors in the 1920s, which were significantly remodelled at the time in an Art Deco style.
Mebourne based architects Peddle Thorp helped redesign and revitalise the building for Yarra City Council, which is now a model of modern environmental design.
Peddle Thorp design director Peter Brook said an iconic building has been bought back to life and he was proud of their role in its return.
“The building has always been a live music site and now it is returning to its traditional role,” he said.
“All these buildings have fantastic architecture, but they are also community hubs.”
The town hall required an upgrade to protect the heritage-listed building and to ensure it complied with occupation health and safety requirements, the Disability Discrimination Act and the Building Code of Australia. It was a massive design challenge.
Although heritage buildings were designed to include a range of passive design strategies, as the services on which we now depend for comfort did not exist,
Mr Brook said many challenges exist when incorporating sustainable design features into them.
Some of the sustainable design features in the refurbishment include:
- Insulation in to the roof spaces and double glazing with acoustic seals to windows.
- Use of natural light in the reinstated courtyard. The courtyard’s roof windows will open automatically at night to purge heat built up in the offices during the day.
- Energy-efficient ambient lighting and task lighting for desks that will be programmed to come on when computers are turned on.
- Central control systems for functions such as lights and air conditioning to improve energy efficiency.
- Dual-flush cisterns on all toilets to save water.
- Installing infrastructure to harvest rainwater from the roof to provide water for the toilets and nearby trees.
- Environmentally responsible materials specified in the office tenancy fitout.
- Mr Brook said the reuse of building materials in such a situation saves around 96 per cent of the embodied energy of materials that would otherwise be wasted.
The Collingwood Town Hall was refurbished to accommodate council offices but also to retain the hall for use by the community.
For more details contact Peddle Thorp on (03) 9923 2222 or visit www.pta.com.au
*Copy supplied by Peddle Thorp.
