Bennettswood Sports Pavilion

Bennettswood Sports Pavilion is a tip-top triumph—a state-of-the-art sporting venue on the former tip site of Bennettswood Reserve, Burwood. The Reserve is now a competitive sporting venue, co-owned by Deakin University and the City of Whitehorse.

Our brief was to design a new sports pavilion to service two cricket clubs and a senior and junior football club. Our response was a versatile, multifunctional facility, eye-catching from Burwood Highway, with a soaring convex roof structure, expansive garden trellises, and tapering external walls. Inside is a 100m2 multipurpose room with operable walls, which effortlessly transforms from a functional sports facility with change rooms and bathroom facilities on match days, to a gracious social function space with commercial kitchen and amenities on community-building days. The pavilion’s dual faces and considered sight-lines encourage engagement with sporting events on all sides.

Behind the scenes, solar panels provide power, rainwater tanks flush the toilets, energy-efficient glazing provides comfort to users, and a high-tech swipe-card security system keeps equipment safe. Below ground, a methane amelioration system supports the re-purposing of this contaminated site.