Monash University Pharmacy Pavilion

Locat­ed on the Parkville Cam­pus along Roy­al Parade, the Monash Uni­ver­si­ty Phar­ma­cy Pavil­ion is a new struc­ture con­nect­ing an exist­ing build­ing to the streetscape act­ing as enhanced ameni­ty where stu­dents, fac­ul­ty and the pub­lic can come together.

Respond­ing to the archi­tec­tural­ly sig­nif­i­cant Mod­ernist build­ing, the pavil­ion is a sim­ple and ele­gant rein­ter­pre­ta­tion of the straight lines and wedge-shaped details expressed on the façade. As a new ful­ly inde­pen­dent struc­ture it was equal­ly impor­tant that the response forge a new iden­ti­ty. Using the site as inspi­ra­tion, the pavil­ion sweeps up along North­ern aspect, allow­ing light to per­me­ate the inte­ri­or of the café within.

The geom­e­try and mate­ri­al­i­ty work togeth­er to simul­ta­ne­ous­ly cre­ate the feel­ing of mass and weight­less­ness, where the heav­i­ness of the met­al effort­less­ly lifts up along the edge. A line of light is inte­grat­ed into the edge empha­sise the geom­e­try at night. 

On the under­side of the pavil­ion, the dark met­al is paint­ed in a high gloss fin­ish to reflect the sur­round­ing Elm trees adding to the feel­ing of ameni­ty with­in the struc­ture as well as respond­ing to the restric­tions of build­ing on the high­ly regard­ed boulevard. 

Beneath the arch­ing roofline, there is a low daybed cre­at­ing a unique van­tage point to observe the junc­ture where the tree canopies and leafy reflec­tions along the archi­tec­tur­al canopy come together.

Below the pavil­ion, a clus­ter lay­out is used to pro­vide flex­i­ble seat­ing for groups and host up to 40 peo­ple in all weath­er con­di­tions. The pavil­ion pro­vides out­door seat­ing to the adja­cent café and opens to the street as an inter­face with the public.

Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with land­scape design­er Mala, the project also rein­states and expands a sig­nif­i­cant Indige­nous Med­i­c­i­nal Herb Gar­den, adding to the lush environment. 

Rep­re­sent­ing our sixth project work­ing with Build­ings, Prop­er­ty and Cam­pus Com­mu­ni­ty at Monash Uni­ver­si­ty and our first with builder Sin­jen, the Monash Phar­ma­cy Pavil­ion nav­i­gates com­plex site con­straints. Respect­ful and con­tem­po­rary, the new design aims to pro­vide an ele­vat­ed entry sequence while sit­ting light­ly with­in its context.

See some of our oth­er col­lab­o­ra­tions with Monash Uni­ver­si­ty includ­ing Brain­park and New Deakin Hall.