Bendigo Hospital - Integrated Cancer Centre, Bendigo, VIC
STH worked with the successful Exemplar Health Consortium to deliver the Bendigo Hospital Project as a Victorian Public Private Partnership. Now the largest regional hospital development in Victoria, it delivers world-class healthcare facilities and provides a welcoming, holistic and positive environment that promotes wellbeing.
The hospital is an inclusive environment that incorporates community facilities such as an indigenous garden, childcare centre and 128 serviced apartments. Importantly the hospital reduces the need for patients to travel to Melbourne and creates an essential asset for the future healthcare needs of a growing regional population. This significant civic building integrates a holistic framework considering the needs of patients, staff and the community and offering a tranquil and caring environment through the integration of architecture, landscaping, health planning and evidence-based design.
Taking inspiration from the scale and proportion of Bendigo’s heritage buildings, the design introduces a street-scale rhythm of vertical framing elements to the podium. This establishes a more friendly and human scale to the hospital.
A north-south civic axis provides a clear and welcoming entrance to the hospital, culminating with a triple height internal street. Rather than the building acting as a barrier, this axis creates an important link through the site. A bespoke woven timber ceiling is a focal point in the internal street. The pattern filters daylight providing ever-changing dappled light. The use of timber and the quality of light provides a sense of warmth and helps to increase wellbeing.
The integrated cancer centre consists of a Radiation Oncology Centre with 4 linear accelerators, with backlit images of nature over the machines showcasing local fauna. There is a medical oncology unit of 20 chairs, with side services and 4 and 6 bed pod arrangements, outpatient consulting and a CT Simulation Suite.
STH completed this project in collaboration with Bates Smart. It has won numerous awards culminating with the Sir Zelman Cowan Award for Public Architecture, 2018 at the National Architecture Awards.
PROJECT SIZE: 5100m2 Cancer Centre, part of the overall 74,770 m2 hospital
PROJECT STATUS: Completed 2017
CLIENT: Exemplar Health, VHHSBA (Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Shannon McGrath, Latitude Group, John Gollings
BACK