Gardiner Architects
Our architecture is about the people we design for and the broader community. Our design outcomes strive for an integrity that respects the environment and creates a broad well being. We design in a collaborative manner and provide sound judgement and advice. Intellectual knowledge is brought to every project, based on extensive experience and research. Throughout the project we offer a diverse skill set including Budget and Program control, Communication & Consultation, and specific Interior Design services.
Driving directions to Gardiner Architects on map
Gardiner Architects on Google Maps
Projects:
The University of Melbourne Clinical Sciences
St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy, 2012
Gardiner Architects has had an ongoing relationship with the University of Melbourne’s Medicine Faculties at St Vincent’s Hospital for over 15 years. This particular project is for the Department of Surgery and was about centralising facilities but also importantly providing a collegial centre for the surgeons at the hospital. The aim is to give a haven away from the clinical hospital environment . The feel is of material richness and nurture. Comprising a total refurbishment of the administration floor in an old 1970’s building, the arrangement clearly separates the public lecture and meeting rooms from the department administration and collegial space. The department caters for about 20 staff, surgeons and students and includes a range of meeting and discussion opportunities. The typical dark long corridors of this type of building have been replaced with a light circulation space that opens up along its length and looks non institutional. It is the public address of the department and has various displays of the people and history. We worked with specialist graphic artists to find a mode of representing the history of surgery. The resulting textural wall adds to the richness of the space and gives visitors easy access to the Department of Surgery’s story. Photography by Rory Gardiner.
Wallflower House
Clifton Hill, VIC, 2013
Nestled between a row of old terraces sits this recently completed renovation and extension. The principle notion of this design was to create light-filled spaces that allowed the clients to live comfortably and add their own personal style to each room. Smart use of storage and space allows the rich internal palette to be the hero of this house. Strong colours and finishes were used defiantly. These finishes are emphasised by natural day light entering the house through the use of internal light courts and an arrangement of tube skylights. Sustainability characteristics include: a small footprint for a three bedroom house; high insulation values; passive solar control with appropriate sun shading; active systems such as solar hot water and solar power; the use of thermally broken windows that are very airtight; large storage water tank underground and general use of recycled materials. Photography by Rory Gardiner.
Ivanhoe House
Ivanhoe, VIC, 2013
Overlooking the Darebin Parklands in Ivanhoe, this residential project provides an alternative interpretation of life in Melbourne’s urban fringe. Our client’s brief required the construction of a well serviced, light and passively designed home, for a recently returned Australian family where connection to a unique area of suburban bushland was paramount. The eastern street entry to the site is significantly more traditional than the more organic layout to the west, where pushing and pulling of recesses occurs, intermingling with the landscape. This relative regularity in form is used to complement the existing traditional street frontages, primarily Californian Bungalows, whilst overlaying a typically ‘Australian’ material base and plant stock. The building has been staggered across interconnected levels to take advantage of the natural fall of the land. This layered effect has the added benefit of being able to utilise the cool air of the sub-soil; cooler air is dragged through the house from a client-designed underground earth tube system during the hot summer months. The resultant house benefits from varied spatial configurations allowing the family to utilise the house in many ways concurrently. Photography by Rory Gardiner.
