Location: Melbourne, Australia
Architect: McIldowie Partners
Ivanhoe Grammar School’s Sports & Aquatic Centre is a leading sporting and educational facility that manages a difficult brief within rigorous planning regulations and a sensitive residential and landscape setting. It is situated on a steeply sloping site along Ivanhoe’s famous Boulevard. The project got underway after the school’s development plan, which had taken seven years to complete, was approved in 2016. A sports and aquatic facility with two courts and an upgraded 25-meter pool was envisioned in this development design.
The design solution was to lower the courts below ground level, stack them on top of one another, and add rooftop courts to activate the rooftop and enable views of the Yarra River and the surrounding city from inside the university. The structure is organized into courts that are piled one on top of the other, with a circulation spine and entry pavilion connecting further support services on one side. The landscape is then brought deep inside the pool and adjacent courts as the pool sits haughtily at the southern end of the site, accessing the breathtaking vistas across the Boulevard and the Yarra River.
Being partially underground has considerable advantages in terms of thermal mass, with steady below-ground temperatures significantly lowering the building’s need for air conditioning. In addition, the facility is connected to its goal in supporting student health and well-being through the installation of 95kW of solar panels on the pool roof, rainwater harvesting, and numerous inclusive and wellbeing-focused design elements.
