Bunjil Place

Making The Complex Simple

The whole project is of a consistent, high level of elegance and the KingZip product fits beautifully within that.

The $125 million multipurpose arts, civic and community facility in the outer Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren holds a library, 800-seat theatre, gathering and meeting spaces, council offices, an art gallery, a flexible event space and an outdoor plaza.

Making the Complex Simple

“Superficially, it’s a very complex piece of geometry,” said John Perry, an associate partner at FJMT, the multi-disciplinary architecture and design firm behind Bunjil Place. “It always concerns people when they start off with double curvature, but it’s a process of getting in their minds around how simple it really is. For something that is as complex as it appears, KingZip achieves it so effortlessly.”

Complete Design Flexibility

"The roof design looks complicated but is actually made up of a small number of very simple shapes,” John Perry explains.

“What the Kingspan KingZip product offers is that it can form conical and curved surfaces very readily. The sheet itself, which is essentially a U-shaped trough, can be tapered. Because it is relatively thin, you can ‘spring’ it, so you can get the curvature in the other direction."

“It’s one of the most flexible systems available in the roofing market for delivering single and double curvature. As a roof covering, it’s very adaptable and I think Bunjil Place is a great example of its flexibility.”

Design Solutions

“We worked with FJMT on the design to ensure we could deliver something that would work in practice,” explained Niall Horgan, commercial manager for Kingspan.

“KingZip Linea can achieve building shapes and geometries that no other product in the market can, however on this project there were a lot of technicalities to work through – such as the many junctions and sheet profile types. Ultimately, we issued a set of construction ‘shop’ drawings for approval by the client.

“The fact that we were involved in the project from the very beginning enabled us to overcome any potential design challenges early on. The installation itself went really smoothly.”

Sector: Community & Heritage

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Completion Date: January 2018

Architect: FJMT