Sport Campus International architecture practice Warren and Mahoney explains its work at the La Trobe University Sports Park
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esigned as the first purpose-built facility of its kind in Australia, the La Trobe University Sports Park in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora takes its cues from the model ‘community university’ style campuses seen in the USA, combining new tertiary sporting facilities, dedicated teaching spaces and laboratories for world-leading sports education testing and analytics alongside community sport infrastructure and tenancies. The recent opening of the $50 million La Trobe Sports Stadium marked the completion of the second phase of development for the state-of-the-art sports facility that will be used by La Trobe students, professional athletes and locals alike. When life in Victoria bears some semblance of normal, the Sports Park is expected to welcome 10,000 visitors per week and is a key component of La Trobe’s plan to transform its Melbourne Campus in Bundoora into a University City of the Future. The 60-hectare site integrates academic research and teaching functions with world-class playing facilities for professional, state and community clubs playing AFL, cricket, football and baseball. The Tony Sheehan Oval has played home to the Carlton VFLW team while Melbourne City FC are also located on campus. Having been awarded the contract to design the facility following a competitive tender, Warren and Mahoney worked with design partners MJMA during the design process to ensure the comprehensive project would meet the needs of
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both La Trobe and the surrounding community. One of the driving strategies around the development of the Sports Park was the opportunity to break down the borders between the University and its locals – reflecting the community-focused tertiary institution model in America. Lead architect, Daryl Maguire, says while a high-level masterplan had already been drawn up – situating buildings in multiple locations across an enormous site – one of the first things the practice did was to interrogate this first draft with client and stakeholder needs and expectations through
