Harbour Family and Children's Services Hub in Australia personifies sustainable design


Australian practice DesignInc has designed the Harbour Family and Children's Services Hub, a sustainable childcare center in Docklands, Australia, featuring learning landscapes.


The Harbour Family and Children's Centre is conceived as a new purpose-built haven for children, families and workers in Docklands. The facility is located on the first level above a retail zone and opens onto a private landscaped play area. The use of natural recycled timber and finishes throughout the building helps in creating a domestic sensibility.

The building has been planned and designed from a child’s perspective. It features a dining room, art spaces and rooms that define wet and dry play areas. All children’s rooms open to an open-air living garden playground.

The playground, which is designed as a ‘learning landscape’, is one of the distinct features of the hub. This includes exposed water tanks, a sandpit, vegetable garden, climbing and digging areas, and plants and trees. The playgrounds are watered from tanks integrated into the external walls. This unique learning landscape helps the kids to have a connection and intimacy with green, living space.

Some other sustainable features integrated into the building are natural ventilation, low energy lighting, rainwater collection, solar hot water heating, vegetable garden, sun shading, and low emission non toxic finishes. The facility also provides dedicated training and seminar facilities for mothers and children.

The center is a purpose-designed and built collaboration between Gowrie Victoria, the City of Melbourne, Lend Lease and VicUrban. It is designed to deliver a range of community facilities including 150 new childcare places, maternal and child health services, family counseling services, day care and occasional care.








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