Springvale Community Hub
“We won the design competition to design a community hub that reflects and supports the diverse immigrant community of Springvale now and well into the future. The result is a project that exceeds sustainability standards and celebrates the suburb’s cultural fabric from every angle.”
James Wilson, Director of Lyons
The Springvale Community Hub acts as a mirror to the community of Springvale, reflecting the unique identities of the people that call Springvale home. It is a flagship project for the Greater Dandenong City Council, one that embodies the importance of representation. It shows that when we see ourselves reflected in the community, we feel more integrated within it. From facilitating education, to improving access to key services, our design for the Springvale Community Hub is multifaceted. Within one address, the library, community rooms and a customer service hall operate as an everyday civic hub, bringing learning and council services into a single, visible place that supports daily activation.
Alongside landscape architects Rush Wright Associates we have responded to the urban context of Springvale, reflecting its built and natural features, as well as social, economic and environmental stories. Our innovative design communicates with the environment, curving around the site’s beloved red river gum trees, and exceeding sustainability standards in support of the community’s future. Paths, courts and garden “rooms” are organised around the remnant river red gums so play, picnics and events sit in their shade. We worked closely with the Greater Dandenong City Council and the community itself to produce this multifaceted, world-class, zero-emissions community facility. The result is a coalescence of cultures forming a diverse public space that encourages education, interaction and connection. Co-design and staged engagement focused the brief on intuitive wayfinding, shaded outdoor rooms and flexible, bookable spaces used by many groups.
Community
James Wilson
Samuel Hunter
Rush Wright Associates
City of Greater Dandenong
5 Hillcrest Grove, Springvale VIC 3171
Located on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people
3800 square metres
6 star Green Star Plus and Net Zero Operational Emissions
Complete, 2020
“The new Springvale Community Hub has been designed as a place where people of all ages, backgrounds and interests can come together, connect and feel welcome. It is a true celebration of culture, diversity and community and will provide a variety of learning, leisure and cultural opportunities in one place.”
Mayor Jim Memeti, Greater Dandenong Mayor Councillor
This new multi-purpose community facility provides a variety of learning, recreational and cultural opportunities. It includes a modern, state-of-the-art library featuring emerging technologies, flexible community meeting spaces, a new customer service area and extensively landscaped green spaces and outdoor activity areas. The library has been designed for advanced delivery of services and for engaging closely with the community. This co-located model functions as a contemporary municipal service centre, shortening trips between the library, meeting rooms and customer service. The multi-modal interior spaces are open, flexible and light filled to welcome all members of the community again and again. The design is 5 Star Green Star Plus rated and carbon neutral and meets important functional and technical requirements so that it not only works as a community experience, but as a staff experience working in and managing unique spaces. Clear sightlines across the Technology Hall and service points streamline staffing and make help easy to find.
The Springvale Community Hub and Library is a physical representation of the Greater Dandenong City Council’s efforts to provide a welcoming, accessible and inclusive place for Springvale residents to learn, play and socialise. Commenting on the project Greater Dandenong Mayor Councillor Jim Memeti said, “The new Springvale Community Hub has been designed as a place where people of all ages, backgrounds and interests can come together, connect and feel welcome. It is a true celebration of culture, diversity and community and will provide a variety of learning, leisure and cultural opportunities in one place.”
We worked with the Greater Dandenong City Council to engage the local community at multiple stages to ensure our design meets its varied needs. The library features new technologies and equipment, flexible community meeting spaces, customer service areas and plentiful parking. A café provides a space to meet and relax, while the Technology Hall gives access to screens and spaces to work and connect. Here, open study blends with screen-based programs so digital inclusion sits at the heart of the library’s public library architecture. The outdoor spaces are equipped for a variety of recreation uses, community events and social gatherings. A playful water element and universally accessible paths encourage families to linger and return. They invite community engagement with multi-use courts, playgrounds, extensively landscaped gardens, and an open air, outdoor bathroom that is accessibility and ambulant friendly.
Located in the Greater Dandenong City Council (the most culturally diverse community in Australia) Springvale has a large Vietnamese population as well as residents from over 99 other birthplaces. Design elements throughout the Springvale Community Hub reflect its culturally diverse population. The western facade uses custom glazed bricks to represent colours from the various national flags that make up the current demographic of Springvale. The Customer Service Hall, situated close to the centre of the Hub for improved accessibility, uses colours and shapes inspired by the Enterprise Rose—a symbol of hope, safety and beauty for more than 30,000 immigrants and refugees who entered Australia through the Enterprise Migrant Hostel in Springvale. Placing these motifs at entries and customer touchpoints makes the welcome immediate for first-time visitors.
From the inside out, the Springvale Community Hub reflects the Springvale community. Externally, each side of the library’s facade colours showcases a different aspect of Springvale. The western facade depicts cultural flags, while the northern side is hyper reflective and features locally sourced timber fins. The eastern facade is finished in tones of brown and terracotta to reflect common suburban rooftops in Springvale, and the south facade extends to form the car park. It incorporates line markings and cat-eye reflector bands that catch the lights from passing cars.
The landscaping too provides beautiful grounds of multicultural plantings for locals to wander and play, winding around the building—a design feature intended to preserve original native red gum trees. Rather than removing the trees, the design curves around the old gums, honoring their presence. The trees also help to shade external patio areas and increase views to nature from the inside. Seating edges, courts and strolling paths weave between gardens so movement doubles as time outside for all ages. Showing this equal consideration for the built and natural environment represents their equal value and invites the community to engage in both spaces.
James Wilson, Directors, Practice Executive
View James' Profile
Designed by Lyons in collaboration with Haworth Tompkins and Silver Thomas Hanley, the boundary-breaking ECU City campus was unveiled in 2021 and early works are now underway. Recently, Sean Henriques, Program Director at ECU spoke with Architecture AU on his experience working with Lyons.
In January 2025, Lyons’ ‘Reflect’ Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was formally endorsed by Reconciliation Australia, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to reconciliation and the indigenisation of Australia’s built environment.
As 2021 comes to a close, Corbett Lyon addressed the studio last week and reflected on the year that was.
Lyons Graduate, Ashlee Murphy, wins the AIA VIC Graduate Prize
The Emerging Architects and Graduate Network have invited architects to consider a message they would share with their younger selves, and this week they’ve shared words from Lyons Director, Carey Lyon.
Stonnington City Council has reclaimed what was once the Cato Street car park
Curtin University’s Midland Campus receives a 2020 National Award for Educational Architecture.
