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Hyspan from Futurebuild helps out in traditional Buddhist style
The Vietnamese community in Melbourne's South East is now seeing their new Buddhist temple and community centre near
completion. Funding for design and construction came entirely from the fund-raising efforts of the community itself and the result is the
traditional Vietnamese Buddhist temple on Springvale Road.
The temple was designed by Lines, MacFarlane and Marshall Architects, a company that has been in business in Melbourne since 1923. Marshall
and company take on projects of all kinds and this often includes public and community buildings. The company has worked on libraries,
community centres, RSL clubs, various restaurants and even prisons. This Vietnamese Buddhist temple project came their way through Garry's
Associate Director, Chau Le, himself a member of the local Vietnamese community.
As Marshall explains, there is a strong Vietnamese community in Melbourne's South East, with another in the West, in Footscray. This temple
and community centre will serve as a meeting place and place of worship for the South Eastern side.
The project is in two stages. Stage one was construction of a two-storey building which is the community centre and accommodation for half
a dozen monks and any visitors. The building includes a small temple, a kitchen and community facilities.
Stage two, once enough funds were raised, was the temple itself. This is the sacred place where Buddha is housed. In terms of design, the
architects went for the traditional Vietnamese style, quite different to Japanese or Thai Buddhist temples. The temple is square shaped in
pagoda style, with the distinctive sweep up at the ends of the eaves. As the eaves and the roof structure need to be curved, Marshall used
Hyspan LVL from futurebuild, supplied and prefabricated by Glamex.
The Hyspan beams were shaped into a gentle curve at prefabrication stage so that once they were brought on-site they were ready to go. This
made construction easier and brought the project within the community's tight budget. Marshall explains that he investigated using steel, as
several straight sections can be used to make a similar curve, however this method requires more labour and is an expensive option. "With LVL,"
says Marshall, "you can do it as an integrated part of the structure." The lightweight beams and the simplicity of application of the
prefabricated curve made Hyspan the more attractive option.
The building's upstairs is the temple space, but there is also a large undercroft, half above and half below ground, which will be enclosed
eventually and used for meetings and functions. Many communities are forced to hold public meetings in the temple space out of necessity, not
having the funds to build a separate space. In order to keep the sacred space separate from the everyday business, a large undercroft was
designed, an unusual feature for such a temple, with steps leading down into it that double as seating, like a kind of grandstand to be used
for meetings.
The new temple has a very high pro?le with its community and will no doubt prove to be a highly functional space. And Marshall, showing the
true adaptability of an architect, has moved on to design a 'stupa' 50 metres in height.
For further information contact:
Futurebuild
phone: +61 3 9258 7600
fax: +61 3 9258 7629
web: www.chhfuturebuild.com
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