Caroline Chisholm: Arts Centre Revitalisation
Build Date
June 2024
Client
Caroline Chisholm Catholic College
Location
Braybrook, Victoria
Architect / Designer
Branch Studio Architects
Value
$1.7M
Braybrook’s Caroline Chisholm Catholic College converted its dated 1970s art rooms into a modern, functional and revitalised arts centre.
The desire for clean, inspiring and acoustically comfortable spaces that would foster creativity and better suit contemporary art education required a complete strip-out and reconfiguration.
All elements were structurally sound, so apart from removing a wall to enable greater access to the media room, no structural work was required. Rather, it was a matter of reconfiguring rooms and creating space for the different art and teaching requirements, equipment and resources.
A lot of timber and plasterboard were removed. Lightweight steel framing and plasterboard were used for the new dividing walls, along with acoustic pinball to successfully dampen the noise transfer between rooms.
The rooms’ first-floor location was a logistical challenge when moving materials in, and construction waste out. Our team solved this by temporarily removing an external window to create a direct access point. Materials were efficiently craned in, saving time and manual labour.
We uncovered a severely undulating and out-of-level floor slab during the strip out. This needed to be addressed quickly on a tight schedule. Our team ground back the high points of the slap and applied a specialised leveling compound across the entire area to create a perfectly flat substrate for the new flooring.
Upgrading the building’s power supply was the most complex undertaking. The existing feed couldn’t provide enough power for the new mechanical systems that had been installed as part of the refurbishment. A new 250-meter cable had to be run from the main switchboard across the campus. This was a major operation, using a truck-mounted winch to pull the massive cable over the roof of an adjacent two-storey building. A crane was needed to get the end of the cable roll up onto the roof of the building so the cable could be pulled through.
New plumbing and custom-made sinks add to the rooms’ functionality.
The finished art rooms are distinguished by a unique see-through mesh feature ceiling, with a standard ceiling built behind it. The lightweight mesh was a new material for MDC Building Group, and the results were striking.
A relatively easy job for a repeat client, we maintained our reputation for being easy to work with, and for doing the job we said we were going to do, in the time we said it would take.
Overall, the revitalised rooms are airy and modern, and better equipped to lend inspiration and clarity to the students’ artistic undertakings. And with flourishes like the mesh ceiling, it is a recognisable, comfortable space for the arts department.
