The design challenges conventional hospital typology with planning that establishes a sense of order in an environment which is complex and fast-paced. The non-institutional design philosophy encourages one-on-one clinical management and offers a wide choice of varied patient-type treatment zones.

The new building establishes a clear address point for the Emergency Department. The white GRC screen on the front façade creates both enclosure and transparency whilst also creating a dynamic shading pattern across the façade, legible from inside and outside. The screen is a clear wayfinding device from David Street to the Emergency Department entry.


With clear views to outdoors the inside /outside connection is well established to create a calming environment for patients, staff and visitors. The waiting spaces feature artworks suspended from the ceiling. These unique gestures of light and shadow are richly coloured and evoke natural botanical forms.



The overall concept provides a contemporary healing environment incorporating clearly defined spaces and establishes a natural feel through the use of daylight, scale, colours, material, texture and lighting. A courtyard space is incorporated to offer outdoor views and respite space, and connects the new ED with the existing hospital.

BatesSmart in association with Irwin Alsop Architects.

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Visit Southern Health for more about the opening of Dandenong Hospital ED

This represents Australian Excellence in environmentally sustainable design and construction.

181 William Street is one of two significant office towers that comprise the CBW development, located in Melbourne’s CBD.

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Visit CBW

Visit The Green Building Council of Australia

Roger Poole, Chairman of Bates Smart, is a member of the Executive Board of the Committee for Melbourne, an apolitical, not-for-profit committee of senior executives working to improve Melbourne’s livability, connectivity, affordability and economic health.

The Committee’s Shaping Melbourne Task Force, consisting of over 160 contributing members, has worked under Co-Chairs Roger Poole, Tom Fricke, Executive Manager of GHD, and Pru Sanderson, former Chief Executive Officer of VicUrban, to examine the options for Governance, Density and Local Economies, and Infrastructure in order to deal with Melbourne’s predicted growth from 4 million in 2011 to 5 million in 2025 and about 8 million in 2060.

The Task Force believes that there is a need for a 50 year strategic plan for Melbourne, dealing with key issues which need to be examined at the metropolitan level.

Three volumes are available for download on the Committee for Melbourne website, http://melbourne.org.au/.

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Visit the Committee for Melbourne

This month we introduce Sally Westren, a recent graduate in interior design from University of Technology Sydney.

Sally won the Bates Smart Award for Design Excellence UTS in 2010. She undertook a 6 month study exchange to Hong Kong in 2009 and she is one of three finalists in the DIA GOTYA Awards to be announced in March.

Sally’s major project was an investigation into post disaster architecture. Through a series of temporary insertions into a surviving structure the project explored the relationship between people and place within a shifting environment.

For the Bates Smart Award students presented a portfolio of projects. Projects spanned a range of design areas including a warehouse office conversion for Lorax, a fictional environmental sustainability consulting firm.

Sally’s winning design focused on the interplay of natural materials and industrial elements, symbolising Lorax’s aim of bringing industry and nature together.

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