Powering inner Melbourne using design innovation

A modern station that blends seamlessly with its residential surrounds, thanks to clever architectural design.

Brunswick Terminal Station has been supplying power to over 90,000 Melburnians since 1939. When a much-needed upgrade was identified in 2012, Beca worked alongside AusNet Services to apply a clever design to the facility that would strike a compromise between continuing to provide uninterrupted power to residents and community and environmental considerations.

The key objective for this project was to provide an effective design in a challenging location, straddling a residential zone and community recreation areas along the Merri Creek corridor.

While technical requirements were paramount, community concerns were front and centre drivers for the Brunswick Terminal Station. And this meant a shift in thinking to deliver the infrastructure. Our team drew on local considerations to inform the architectural design of the new facility including three buildings  that would house a combined 308V of power equipment. As a requirement of planning approval, these buildings needed to blend seamlessly within their surrounds - keeping visual, noise and waste impacts to a minimum without compromising functionality.

Nearby 12-metre residential street frontages influenced our team to reduce the scale of the facility’s buildings by grading the facades into modules within the site. To reduce visual clutter and improve views through and around the site, we housed electrical infrastructure indoors within the new buildings which were treated with screens, textured precast concrete panels and materials designed to integrate them into the surrounding recreational zone.

The result is a cleverly disguised electricity terminal that will continue to serve locals for decades to come.

Awards

• 2019 World Architecture Festival - Finalist in the 'Completed Buildings - Production, Energy and Recycling' category.