Location: Sandringham, Victoria, Australia.

Architect: fjmt.

The police station is designed to be a truly public community building, inviting, accessible and part of the civic fabric of the neighbourhood. It is composed of an overarching formal frame, addressing the primary street and lifting the scale of the building to the adjacent Masonic Hall. The workspaces, meeting rooms, sally port, holding rooms and gymnasium are gathered around a central top-lit atrium, lined with timber. An integrated exhibition/artwork displaying the historical progression of the local police from the turn of the twentieth century through to the present time is displayed in the atrium. Terracotta tiles and curved Victorian Ash panels frame the street address, while the atrium is lined with Victorian Ash panels and lit from above. The perimeter of the main station volume is a layered system of glass operable panels, a captured linear landscaped garden, and a wall of continuous metal louvre grilles which provide environmental mediation and security.

Photos: John Gollings.