Date |
Title |
Project |
|---|---|---|
24.05.10 |
THE O'BRIEN BUILDING - ST VINCENTS |
O'Brien Building |
Contact
Stella de Vulder 0412 341 013
Stella de Vulder 0412 341 013
To be officially opened by His Eminence Cardinal George Pell AC, together with the Premier, the Hon Kristina Keneally and Health Minister, the Hon Carmel Tebbutt, on 27 May, the new O’Brien Building on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in Darlinghurst, designed by BVN Architecture is firstly an urban response to a difficult corner.
It acknowledges the historical importance of the existing deLacy Building and is part of the urban consolidation of St Vincent’s services into the hospital campus from three different sites for drug and alcohol, community health, and mental health services.
The architectural strategy has been to give back to Darlinghurst the lost corner of Victoria and Burton Streets. At the same time the new O’Brien Building takes several paces back to create a new urban square and to liberate the heritage façade of the deLacy Building, buried for so many years.
According to Mr James Grose, BVN National Director, ‘by demolishing the many unsympathetic additions we were able to pull the O’Brien building back from the deLacy, thereby creating a human scaled courtyard that reveals the fine detailing and corbelling of the 1890’s building with its 1930 colonnade.’
Putting the O’Brien building to the rear of the deLacy created a very tight site, and internally an open atrium creates a stairwell from level 3 up to level 7 to bring daylight down from the upper level clerestory. The first two floors are below ground and have a high level of security.
The O’Brien management team took a strategic decision to locate the main board room and meeting rooms in the middle of the facility which is visible to staff through glass walls overlooking the stair void creating a vibrant and engaging collaborative workplace.
Kitchens and lounges are also located around the atrium on higher levels, giving staff plenty of natural light in a spacious café that opens onto a sun filled courtyard.
Patient facilities include a sunny common room with a large café/kitchen opening onto a courtyard with a barbecue and lots of seating in the open air. Extraordinary, and unexpected harbour views, are captured in a two storey glazed box on the Burton Street side of the building, that includes meeting rooms and offices.
The patient wards and consulting rooms are planned around parallel corridors easily accessible from the central stair and lift lobbies, and are finished with warm colours and materials that are a far cry from the perception of cold white rooms of older mental health facilities.
It acknowledges the historical importance of the existing deLacy Building and is part of the urban consolidation of St Vincent’s services into the hospital campus from three different sites for drug and alcohol, community health, and mental health services.
The architectural strategy has been to give back to Darlinghurst the lost corner of Victoria and Burton Streets. At the same time the new O’Brien Building takes several paces back to create a new urban square and to liberate the heritage façade of the deLacy Building, buried for so many years.
According to Mr James Grose, BVN National Director, ‘by demolishing the many unsympathetic additions we were able to pull the O’Brien building back from the deLacy, thereby creating a human scaled courtyard that reveals the fine detailing and corbelling of the 1890’s building with its 1930 colonnade.’
Putting the O’Brien building to the rear of the deLacy created a very tight site, and internally an open atrium creates a stairwell from level 3 up to level 7 to bring daylight down from the upper level clerestory. The first two floors are below ground and have a high level of security.
The O’Brien management team took a strategic decision to locate the main board room and meeting rooms in the middle of the facility which is visible to staff through glass walls overlooking the stair void creating a vibrant and engaging collaborative workplace.
Kitchens and lounges are also located around the atrium on higher levels, giving staff plenty of natural light in a spacious café that opens onto a sun filled courtyard.
Patient facilities include a sunny common room with a large café/kitchen opening onto a courtyard with a barbecue and lots of seating in the open air. Extraordinary, and unexpected harbour views, are captured in a two storey glazed box on the Burton Street side of the building, that includes meeting rooms and offices.
The patient wards and consulting rooms are planned around parallel corridors easily accessible from the central stair and lift lobbies, and are finished with warm colours and materials that are a far cry from the perception of cold white rooms of older mental health facilities.
