Project Description
This project is a new church, function and
welfare centre for the Salvation Army Church community in Mooroolbark. The
project includes a 250 seat worship auditorium, a 120 seat function room with a
commercial kitchen, café, crèche, youth centre, and interview rooms situated on
a steeply sloping 6100m2 vacant site.
The structure designed by MacLeod Consulting
includes:
- Profiling
of post-tensioned in-situ concrete ground floor supported on reinforced block
walls and concrete columns
- Stiffened raft concrete slab at lower ground level
- Reinforced
block load bearing walls used for retention at lower ground level
- Steel
framing for the 15m high thermal chimney and cross
- Two
17m long custom designed exposed Unilam timber trusses with flitch plates
to support the auditorium roof.
- Lightweight
timber and part all steel roof framing supported on reinforced block walls
- Reinforced
block lift shaft.
Civil design included:
- Bulk
earthworks
- 75
space car park
- Site
drainage, roof drainage, and seepage drainage
- Pavement
design
- Retaining
walls
- Water
sensitive urban design (WSUD) features such as bio retention swales and
rain gardens
- Water
storage for recycling
Challenges of the project include the steep 1
in 6 slope (13m fall) to the site with grade entry to both levels, framing of
the 15m high thermal chimney, and the labyrinth cooling system utilising the
sub-floor void and stormwater tanks.