Fitness Centre, Townsville RAAF

"It’s definitely a different approach,” Lawrence says of the Physical Fitness Centre that has just opened. “Working on the RAAF Base meant that environmental, functional, security and whole of life costing considerations took a far more important role than the aesthetically driven concerns for a commercial gym that relies on memberships to survive.”

“It is a defence building first and foremost, so its criteria also included robustness and security as well as value for money.”

On the eastern-most edge of the base, the Physical Fitness Complex completes the Living Quarters Precinct, sitting directly opposite the transit accommodation and the new combined mess (also designed by Conrad Gargett).

The complex brings together a main hall, a weight training area, cardio room, boxercise area, swimming pool and support facilities.

“The idea was to take the existing facilities on the base and gather them together into one central complex, thereby encouraging its use,” Lawrence explains.

The result is a visually impressive, compact facility which provides a practical design and easy access day and night. The design relied heavily on steel – to maintain the distinctly industrial context provided by the existing WW2 hangars and maintenance facilities.

“All the windows on the complex utilise external sun shading devised to maximise daylight while minimising the direct sun,” Lawrence says. “The blades protect the translucent sheeting from too much afternoon sun, while the same afternoon sun provides a unique change in the look of the COLORBOND^® steel in a Metallic finish from rich blue to silver.”

The brief for the building was to provide a facility that would create a comfortable integrated exercise environment all year round. As a result, the facility is organised along two perpendicular breezeways that meet at an administration point central to all the major functions within. The north-south and east-west breezeways, which use wall cladding made from COLORBOND^® steel in the colours Axis^® and Facade (both in a Metallic finish*), provide the facility with distinctive, light-filled access walkways, an area of respite from the hot Townsville sun and an escape from the rains during the wet season.

Along the north-south entry breezeway, past the physiotherapist offices and opposite the administration area, is the base’s international standard basketball court – a major requirement in the design.

Its extended height and size (including a floor space of 840 square metres) allow the hall to be used for basketball, volleyball, badminton or general squadron fitness training. The court features large exposed air conditioning ducts, a sound system – which runs through the entire complex – and a ceiling made from perforated COLORBOND^® steel for increased absorption and noise minimisation.

There’s also a six-lane, 25-metre swimming pool with a ramp for disabled access and a small wading area for rehabilitation activities. Solar heating tubes sit on the main roof, allowing warm water to be circulated through the pool during winter – when, even in Townsville, the water can get pretty chilly, according to the locals.

Weather considerations played a major role in the design, not just in the implementation of a range of ESD features but also in terms of the heavy rains, winds and cyclones that are common in the tropics.

“The wind forces and the amount of rain that falls were major challenges,” says Lawrence. “The building is quite heavily braced, and fixings and fittings for all steel cladding are of cyclone grade.

The new physical fitness centre has transformed a former container storage site into a modern facility with a design that responds to the built environment of the airbase.

“The design evolved over time, through close collaboration with the managing contractor (Leighton Contractors), the project consultant (Carson Group) and the client,” Lawrence said.

“It changed as we worked through the design process, bounced ideas off each other and came to terms with the realities of the local building trades situation. We adapted the building as we learned more about the Defence community’s demands, the site’s needs and the nuances of Townsville. It was definitely a team effort and an evolution.”