Earlier this month our team attended the Archify Live Adelaide 2023 event at the Adelaide Convention Centre to enjoy some refreshments, social networking, product/specifier updates and also walk away with some awesome goodies.
Term 2 Commences
After a a series of extended long weekends for Easter and Anzac Day, school is back for Term 2 of 2023. We look back on a new build project for Mt Barker Primary School - finished approximately 12 months ago.
The new building has exceedingly improved the sites facilities by replacing a cluster of old, tired and end of life transportable buildings with a new modern two storey flexible education facility for staff and students. The building provides and brings together staff administration facilities, student learning and teaching and an inclusive centre for students with complex needs.
Designed as an efficient and familiar shaped traditional open gable form, it is reflective of the surrounding Mt Barker residential and rural architecture and material palette. Located in the Adelaide Hills, the site had complex existing levels and restrictive access which has been resolved through a series of internal and external stairways, as well as a lift for equitable access.
Students have been excited to utilise the internal stairways, fixed joinery houses and occupy the upper levels with expansive views of surrounding environment.
$44m Mental Health Boost
Yesterday’s media announced a new project Wiltshire Swain are involved with (as part of the design team) to deliver a new Mental Health rehabilitation unit at Modbury Hospital in Adelaide’s northeast. The project will invest $44million to deliver 24 more mental health beds by 2025, with the design able to support adults who need longer stays in hospital for therapeutic and rehabilitative care. Refer below links:
Kicking off 2023!
Wiltshire Swain Architects are back in the studio, feeling refreshed and ready to take on 2023 with some exciting projects ahead.
A Holistic Facility
Construction has recently completed at Strathalbyn Residential Aged Care Facility, where not only did we document and design the new build extension and refurbishment areas, we also assisted the site to specify and procure all loose furniture for a cohesive and considered functionality and design aesthetic.
Refer to the recent write up as prepared by Crown Furniture.
https://www.crownfurniture.com.au/project/strathalbyn-aged-care
St Andrews Golf Classic
WS are proud and continuing supporters of the St Andrews Golf Classic, by sponsoring a hole and participating in the annual event coordinated by the St Andrews Hospital Foundation at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club. The event and organisation are essential in raising funds for various projects at St Andrew’s Hospital. Unfortunately last years event was cancelled due to Covid-19, so it’s great to have Dennis Tapp out on the course representing the WS team today!
Winners are Grinners
Congratulations to our intelligent Wiltshire Swain team who last Friday evening walked away victorious at the first round of the Brickworks Adelaide Design Studio Trivia Night - in support of the Children’s Cancer Institute.
We’d like to think of this as our most prestigious award so far - this is going straight to the pool room! 😉
Thanks to Brickworks for a great night raising funds for a fantastic cause.
Aged Care Investment Taking Shape
A great article in “The Southern Argus” last week following an Open Door session about our work under construction at Strathalbyn Residential Aged Care Facility. As said by Project Manager Amy Foote :
“I am grateful to be a part of this project and am constantly amazed by the collaboration from all parties and the sheer volume of things that need to be considered and worked through. I am looking forward to seeing the 2B finished and continuing to work toward the other milestones of the project together. A great team and mammoth effort by all so far.”
Murray Bridge Vaccine Rollout
Late last year construction concluded on site at Murray Bridge Soldiers Memorial Hospital with the the completion of the Emergency Department Redevelopment.
Today MBSM Hospital became Australia’s FIRST site to administer the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the region’s frontline workers. Wide media coverage came as 1000 doses of the vaccine were delivered to site yesterday morning, including health minister Stephen Wade.
Our new building extension and courtyard plaza has created a street presence, clear entry and improved site way finding to assist this essential vaccine rollout!
New Year, New Site!
We are back in the office for 2021, and while the break was refreshing, our construction sites have been busy!
Demolition and site work commenced over the New Year at Mount Barker Primary School, with the site now cleared and ready for construction of the new building. A large scope of demolition is required on site to remove existing ageing infrastructure and make way for a new two-storey building facility.
Further demolition will occur as the staged project continues and areas are completed.
Kitchen Before / After
The recent “light touch” refurbishment of an existing staff kitchen/breakout at UniSA Magill in the De Lissa building. With a very tight budget and program, WS were able to guide the project to align expectations for a great cost effective result. Minor works were required to update the existing tired kitchen and improve functionality for the large amount of staff that frequent the only kitchen in the building throughout the day. Scope included replacing the existing cupboard/drawer fronts, providing new overheads, new floor finish, new tiling, new sink and creating an opening-connection to an adjacent office to now be used as a breakout space.
Materials and finishes were inspired by and selected to work with the existing buildings 70’s-80’s features of timber/brickwork, including retro mosaic tiles, warm golden timbers, heavy use of white to lighten and brighten the small space, and subtle contrast of timber edging and black hardware detailing.
Goodwood Glance
An inspiring short time lapse and composed video capturing the project from demolition to construction and including fly through details of the newly completed Grandstand at Goodwood Oval.
Video prepared by Logic Films.
Grand(stand) Opening!
Yesterday marked the grand opening event of the newly completed Grandstand at Goodwood Oval.
A great community with many locals in attendance to utilise and appreciate the new facility with a formal ribbon cutting, tours, BBQ, drinks and coffee available. Thanks to everyone involved who has supported and contributed to successful project.
Wirreanda Performing Arts Centre
Wiltshire Swain are currently continuing our long standing relationship with Wirreanda Secondary School with our fourth site project currently under construction with FDC. The $11.5m Capital Works Project encapsulates many components site wide including both refurbishments and new buildings, with our personal favourite element being the conversion of an old unused gymnasium into a Performing Arts Centre to accomodate 450+ people as spectators. To assist the school with visualisation and design intent we prepared the above 3D image - utilising a contrast of light timbers accents and the light aqua blue colouring against the dark blackout interior. We look forward to sharing the progress and final outcome!
Branding Refresh
Introducing: Wiltshire Swain Architects - Refreshed!
Since turning 15 this year, we thought it was about time we “grew up a little”. Over winter, we engaged the talented Prana Studios assist with refreshing our identity and creating some cohesion across all our digital and print media. We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel - hoping to keep familiarity and some reference to our iconic coloured barcode stripes. Our brief consisted of our key values: refined, sophisticated, detailed and timeless to capture and reflect our local, friendly and approachable nature. Most importantly, it had to make us proud and feel like “we work here”.
We are absolutely thrilled with the final outcome, and proud to release, share and reveal our new identity. Thanks to Prana Studios for patiently and collaboratively working with us over the last couple of months, it can’t be easy designing for fellow fussy designers!
Celebrating 15 Years!
This winter marks 15 years of business for Wiltshire + Swain Architect’s. While we “quietly” celebrate this milestone achievement that we are so grateful to have reached, we also look back to reflect on just how far we have come and grown.
Founded by Director’s Mark Wiltshire and Andrew Swain in 2005, you could say the duo were ahead of their time and pioneers of the “working from home” setup that has become commonplace today - here’s a flashback from the archives (when work was a little quieter).
W+S continues to expand our studio and portfolio to deliver specialist facility projects requiring a high level of technical design resolution. We could not have done so without the continued support of all our staff, clients, consultants, contractors and suppliers - so thanks!
Stay tuned for some exciting projects and things we’ve been working on to help celebrate this milestone!
Ashford Hospital Complete
After two years in construction, the final stage of Ashford Hospital Redevelopment is now complete!
With a brand new and transformed reception, administration, waiting area, amenities and pharmacy, the Hospital’s front-of-house facilities located on the Ground Floor were visually and functionally redesigned, effectively making way for an extension to the hospitals Day Procedure Unit, café and other patient services.
The Day Procedure Unit was reconfigured considerably to increase the capacity from 14 to 30 chairs. With contemporary pre and post surgery waiting areas, interview and preparation rooms, toilets, a new second stage recovery area and staff station with amenities. The Day Procedure Unit now offers a modern, comfortable and therapeutic environment for staff, patients and visitors of the Ashford Hospital.
On Level 1, a 65-bed ward redevelopment included the substantial remodelling of patient bedrooms, essentially minimising the number of shared bedrooms while increasing the number of private bedrooms with dedicated ensuites. These bedrooms and ensuites received new floor finishes, ceilings, wall linings and protection, external window suites, fixtures, lighting, nurse call system upgrade and joinery. The adjoining corridors were also updated with new floor finishes, handrails and crash rails as well as new Staff Stations accompanied with Medication Rooms and Staff amenities. The new Staff Stations were designed with practicality in mind, fitted with ample storage and plenty of spaciousness and centrally located for passive supervision. The custom curved-edge desk design and selection of neutral finishes with hints of pastel blue added a sense of warmth and comfort to an otherwise clinical environment.
An additional extension of the Level 1 atrium was also constructed to accommodate an open reflective Sacred Space, and to centralise hospital administrative and support staff. The environment now fosters the wellbeing of staff, patients and visitors with a flood of natural light penetrating from the skylights and generous 3 level void above.
Refer to the publication links below for more images and details:
https://archello.com/project/ashford-hospital-redevelopment
https://healthcaresnapshots.com/projects/7251/ashford-hospital-redevelopment/
Gardening for Good Health
A great little write up by SA Life about our friends at St Andrew’s Hospital and the Secateurs Group volunteers - who have developed, manage and maintain the full town acre grounds surrounding the heritage listed Waverley House on the Hospital’s site. The organic, pesticide free garden creates a thriving and balanced eco-system of plants, birds and insects while providing an open oasis escape for staff, patients and local residents. As healthcare designers and architects, we understand the importance building context and the impact of plants, nature, light and views on healing and recovery - something that we apply to every project and especially the recent Eastern Clinical Development (the new backdrop to Waverley House). It’s a pleasure to work and maintain our relationship with such a community focused institution.
In This Together
National Reconciliation Week is a reflection for all Australians, not only as individuals but as families, communities, organisations and most importantly a united Nation. As we look to the future, we must aim to build and maintain strong and respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We look back on some of our past projects Gabmididi Manoo in Whyalla and Ngura Yadurirn in Ceduna where we integrated Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories and references with the design contribution and efforts of local communities and artists into multiple building elements of projects including stain-glass windows, flooring, tiling, glazing film, sunshade screening and artwork.
We also look forward to sharing some current projects where this collaboration and relationship will be continued and evident through the inclusion of representational elements of Aboriginal and local community recognition, designed into the form of some regional buildings we are currently working on.
MBSMH CSSD Upgrade
Earlier this month, the refurbishment and expansion of the at Murray Bridge Solider’s Memorial Hospital Central Sterilisation Supply Department (CSSD) reached practical completion. Full compliance with new standards AS/NZS 4187 2014 is required by December 2021, with this upgrade a component of our larger project with the Hospital to upgrade the sites Emergency Department.
Old medical record stores were converted and a small extension was added to provide a larger footprint to the existing CSSD. A three zone / two barrier system provides appropriate infection control zoning and uni-directional work flows. Teal green colour banding and blocking was injected to clearly identify transitional areas and add some life to an otherwise highly clinical and clean space. Refer to the MBSMH CSSD project in our SPECIALIST Portfolio for more photos.