New Melton Hospital Design Competition

The Challenge

Design Victoria’s first all-electric hospital within a uniquely diverse and up-and-coming neighborhood, Cobblebank, Victoria. The competition sought a masterplan that is flexible, allowing for seamless incremental expansion and growth of the facility over time, as well as one that was welcoming, patient-centric and pandemic-ready.

The Design Solution

The New Melton Hospital is the result of co-design with the Cobblebank community, as well as the traditional owners of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, ensuring a unique and culturally sensitive healthcare facility.

A close collaboration with the John Holland Group as well as Hassell Studio, the team embraced a flexible approach to growth, accommodating both incremental and single-staged expansions. This adaptable strategy is reflected in all scales – from the initial compact footprint in the masterplan, to the architecture and interior layouts, which are designed to allow for easy modification to meet the changing demands of healthcare provisions without causing disruptions. The flexible approach similarly allows pandemic readiness to the hospital, ensuring uninterrupted normal operations during a pandemic. The masterplan includes ample staging areas for mass testing, vaccination and surge, while interior spaces are designed to be flexibly used and to be easily compartmented and isolated when needed.

Sited in one of the fastest growing areas in Australia, the New Melton Hospital represents a groundbreaking shift in the design of hospitals, and is a celebration of the rich cultural diversity of the city of Melton. The design recognises the challenges of diverse communities entering a hospital setting, creating a threshold moment to come in and feel embraced in a culturally safe place. To do this, HKS proposed welcoming accessible access points, supported by an integrated wayfinding strategy, both internally and externally. Understanding the significance of nature and the outdoors in First Peoples’ culture, landscaped terraces are paired with every clinical department, reducing any barriers to entry. The design provides comfort and calm through the use of natural materials, colours and textures that are inspired from Australia and reflect the local community’s cultures, languages and experiences. With cultural safety and a sense of welcome front of mind, design for country principles extend through the architecture, clinical planning and interiors.

The Design Impact

While not selected as the final design, the project aimed to support the hospital in growing with the community. Incremental or single-staged expansions are made possible with a truly flexible approach to growth in the proposed design.