Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Photo courtesy of John Wardle.

Photo courtesy of John Wardle.

Combining cutting-edge facilities, sustainability and optimising acoustics. All in a day's work.

This new home of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is located in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. The original Conservatorium was one of Australia’s first music education institutions and has now continued to be one the most internationally prestigious, providing cutting-edge facilities for students, to collaborate, learn, teach, perform, and perfect their skills and we are thrilled to have been involved.

This project consists of offices, studios, tutorial rooms, communication rooms, rehearsal rooms, a roof top terrace and much more, spread over 8 levels with a floor area of over 6500sqm. The building is 5 Star Green Star rated and 100% electric zero-carbon ready.

In order to achieve such an ambitious goal, the building was designed with no gas connection, LED lighting, thermally efficient façade, and specialist mechanical services. On top of this, about 25% of the electricity consumed was generated by onsite solar panels.

Given the musical performances that were to occur inside, optimising acoustics was considered as important to the project as sustainability. Therefore, timber was primarily used throughout, because of its sustainability and biophilic credentials, as well as its acoustic benefits.

The acoustic and sustainable focuses of this project have resulted in a unique combination of architectural designs and construction solutions.  

Building cross section.

Photo courtesy of John Wardle.