Project Contact
Patrick Ness
Justin Bullen
Karen Unkles
Livee Tan
Maja Belic
Mark Fenollar
Matthew Ginnever
Simon Harris
Suhayl Annuar
Troy Thirlwell
Ernie Cropley Pavilion
Parkville, Victoria
The Ernie Cropley Pavilion is a significant University landmark and provides a leading sporting facility to the community and university sporting groups. The Pavilion refreshes the campus landscape and reflects the idea of the University as an institution that celebrates activity and endeavour beyond the classroom setting. It is a statement of their ongoing commitment to campus life embracing the benefit of sporting competition and recreational activity for students, staff and visitors. Importantly, the Pavilion is a critical point of connection between the University and the wider community, including sporting teams and other users who access the range of generous and high-quality amenities.
The project scope involved retention of the heritage ‘social room’, the construction of a new function room and co-located food and beverage servery area at ground level. Below, new change rooms and match day facilities are available for AFL Football, Cricket and other oval users. The pavilion acts as the home ground for four different clubs, with spaces for visiting teams. In addition to match day and training facilities, it also caters for larger club functions, meetings and conferences for the broader University community.
The project visually connects the green sweep of the oval, across the campus to the city. A new terrace connects the function and social spaces with the playing field, cascading downwards to form a landscaped terrain suitable for informal gatherings and use, as well as the more formal match day spectator viewing. This terrace creates a place for people to assemble and facilitate the broader exchange of ideas and imagination outside of traditional learning environments that is so critical to contemporary university pedagogies.
