OMA have proposed Wollert Neighbourhood centre, for the town of Whittlesea, Australia, to be made up of retail and cultural facilities.
The centre has been designed by OMA as a “social condenser” for the area, located 25-kilometres north of Melbourne.
The Wollert Neighbourhood Centre will include childcare, entertainment and cultural amenities to meet the needs of the entire suburban community.
"We conceived the Wollert Neighbourhood Centre as social infrastructure where retail and social interaction weigh equal," says OMA's regional director Paul Jones.
"Existing community activity centres in Wollert’s surrounding areas, separated from retail programs, are often under utilised. They fail to bring the community together," Jones continued.
"Our design weaves together retail, amenity and cultural spaces for use by people in the community with different needs. It will be a social condenser in the area."
Upon completion, Wollert Neighbourhood Centre will encompass 9,000 square metres. As the project is at concept stage, its materiality is yet to be determined.
It will have a rectangular and "utilitarian form" that wraps around a giant open courtyard at its centre.
This courtyard will contain an amphitheatre for community events alongside public outdoor space.
To ensure it is accessible, OMA will position multiple entrances across the building's elongated facade that offer direct access to the courtyard as well as inside the building.
