To “do no harm”. The concept that guides the design of The Melbourne Recovery Centre.

It is a building that serves to protect. To protect the patient, to protect it’s staff & families, to protect the community, and importantly to protect the planet. Responding to its site, the protective façade is regrown from the recycled material of its heritage, a five storey, monumental, hit & miss brick screen. The brick skin is designed to protect the interior, a safe space to regrow and to heal.

Carefully dappled light radiates through the skin into the internal spaces beyond, while climbing plants are sewn through its openings. The skin simultaneously talks of protection and regeneration.

Built from CLT timber, the interior guides the way to a sustainable future, with materials kept as close to their natural state as possible. Intersecting pathways create opportunities for chance encounters, while providing meandering paths for occupants to bathe in the overflowing greenery. A space to regrow.

At the core of the project, standing proud from ground to roof, is a light filled, green atrium. The atrium is the spine that guides the way to a rooftop garden, alive with the seasons. A space to heal.

The Melbourne Recovery Centre is a cancer treatment and recovery centre. It is about doing no harm to the patient and the planet. The building is designed to be carbon neutral in both construction and operation. It is a place about stillness, calmness, treatment, recovery, restoration and regeneration.

It is a place to protect, to regrow and to heal.