Discovery Point is just 12 minutes from Sydney's CBD. The masterplan proposes a predominantly residential mixed use neighbourhood of 14 buildings comprising approximately 1350 apartments with ground floor retail uses including cafes, restaurants, specialty retail and a supermarket.

One year on from the competition win, Project Leader Matthew Allen describes Bates Smart’s approach.

Building heights have been reduced in the centre of the site in response to the lower height of the existing station. The massing has been further modulated to open up the buildings to impressive water views and to reinforce the formal arc established by the existing buildings on the site. Two landmark towers have been strategically located to take advantage of distant city views and form an urban marker for the station.

Bates Smart is currently designing the first phase of development which includes a supermarket with landscaped podium and a 13-storey residential tower. The ground floor level is activated with specialty retail set around a new neighbourhood park.



Visit Bates Smart for more on Discovery Point Masterplan

Visit Discovery Point

The Institute said that “Poole has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Architecture through his involvement as a leader of one of Australia’s oldest architectural practices and by extension, through his contribution to the development of large practice culture in Victoria and also through his advocacy of the dissemination of Architecture through the Media. He is an active member and public advocate for Architecture on several committees related to the development of Melbourne.”

The AIA cited his work as a member of the Executive Board of the Committee for Melbourne, and former Council member of the Property Council of Australia (Victoria).

Roger Poole graduated in Architecture from the University of Washington then completed research studies for the PhD in city planning and urban design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. After a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship for study in Japan, Poole worked with urban designers Sasaki Dawson and Ashley Myer Smith in Boston.

After working on residential and hospitality projects in Hawaii, he moved to Melbourne where he has practiced since 1974 with Bates Smart, leading design teams on a number of award-winning projects. He became Chairman of Bates Smart in 1998.

Joining the RAIA in 1975, Poole was elected a Chapter Councillor in 1986 and joined the Executive, serving as Vice President External Affairs from 1986 – 1988.  In 1884, Poole and then RAIA President Dimity Reed conceived a new ‘Award for Architectural Journalism’ as part of the annual awards program and the Bates Smart Award for Architecture in the Media was established. Over 50 such awards have been granted in the past 26 years.

Roger Poole is also a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Australian Planning Institute and an Associate of the American Institute of Architects.

Visit Bates Smart for more about Roger Poole

Dr Roger Ulrich, a behavioural scientist and Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Design at Texas A+M University, has contributed significantly our understanding of Evidence Based Design (EBD).

Professor Ulrich has conducted extensive research on healthcare facilities and their effect on medical outcomes. His 1984 study provided scientific proof that having views to nature from the hospital bedroom can reduce the length of stay and pain relief in a group of post-surgery patients.

Biophilia is the term used to describe the need that humans have for contact with the natural environment. Buildings designed to evoke or reinforce biophilia appear to ‘grow’ out of nature and seek to give people a sense of greater well-being.

This concept is particularly influential in health facility design. Led by Directors Kristen Whittle and Sheree Proposch, Bates Smart has applied this perspective to the new Royal Children's Hospital in Parkville, Melbourne.



A recent study at the John Hopkins Medical Centre indicated that even simulated views to images of nature, for patients undergoing bronchoscopies, significantly reduced their pain levels.

And although the use of “virtual nature” isn't considered a replacement for windows and views, for short term patients visiting clinics imbedded in US-style deep-plan hospitals, this research is a positive step to understanding the mind/body connection.

Implementing Biophilic design is more complex than adding a skylight or having a hospital bedroom with views to outdoors. It also involves the use of natural materials and forms and a deeper understanding of evolved human-nature relationships.

The economics of patient care are also relevant. If architectural design using evidence-based principles can trim the length of stay and the need for pain-relief pharmaceuticals, cost savings over conventional hospitals would be very substantial.

Dr Ulrich believes that over the life of the facility, operational costs are reduced if the hospital is designed according to EBD principles.