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Melbourne Jet Base

Melbourne

In a city rich with a wide range of international sporting and entertainment events, cultural attractions and a lifestyle that is the envy of cities worldwide, the addition of a purpose built private Jet terminal designed to be the best of its type in the world represents a bold new step as Melbourne seeks to regain its mantle as the most livable city in the world. Melbourne Jet Base seeks to redefine the entry and departure experience for high net worth individuals, foreign dignitaries, celebrities and sports stars who demand level of service, security and privacy well beyond what is available in a commercial airline terminal.

Situated in a discreet location at Melbourne International Airport Tullamarine, the facility boasts 24 hr access to full length runways, two expansive hangars with ancillary ground support spaces, in house customs and immigration screening, generous pilot support areas, function spaces and high-end guest facilities more akin to the World’s finest luxury hotel lobbies.

 

Sam Lock, Director

At the inception of the project we quickly understood just what an exciting and unique brief this was to respond to and set ourselves the task of expressing the architectural form, the spatial experiences and finishes in a way that stokes the age-old tension between landscape and sky – and evokes the dynamism and poetry of flight. Our collaborative design process has led to a solution which balances these rich metaphors with the complexities of providing aircraft hangarage, functional workplace, customs and high-end guest lounge facilities all under the one roof. We are immensely proud of the outcome and see it as an important, albeit exclusive piece of Victoria’s tourism infrastructure.

Andrew Tucker, Director

From the outset, we saw this project as a great opportunity to redefine the arrival and departure experience for visitors to Melbourne and Australia. Both the design and client team decided at the outset that this facility needed to be uniquely Australian and showcase what our country and culture aspire to while avoiding at all costs the sense of placeless uniformity so common in airport lounges worldwide. We think our collective approach has resulted in a terrific outcome for our client and truly unique contribution to the Melbourne Airport Precinct, and the State of Victoria’s tourism sector.

Melbourne Jet Base’s architectural expression is defined by its elegant and iconic wing form, articulated using aviation inspired materiality and a play on the poetic tension of earth and sky. Conversely, the warm interior spaces embrace a uniquely Australian palette of materials, textures and colours, designed to both calm and comfort those in transit.

Christina Prodromou, Director (Interiors)

Jetbase, more than any other project in recent times, illustrates to our community and clients the quality of experience our team can deliver. Internally, it provided us with an opportunity to explore materials and building techniques that will undoubtedly influence future work. Externally, it’s delightful to have such a beautiful project in our portfolio that both demonstrates our design capabilities and illustrates the benefits of inter-sector design knowledge. Jetbase has given our team such a boost and a sense of pride in how we showcase and communicate Cox’s interiors story.

Awards

Architecture Award, Commercial Architecture, AIA VIC 2019

Technical Information

City
Melbourne
Year
2018
Client
Melbourne Aviation Precinct
Status
Complete, 2018
Key Consultants
ARUP, WT Partnership, TRACT, Phillip Chun, Lumicom, Visium
Gross Floor Area
16,000m2
Photography
Peter Clarke