Greatly adored and supported by the local community, The Avenue Children’s Centre and Kindergarten’s existing building has exceeded its life expectancy and is no longer functional or compliant with current building and safety standards.

The City of Port Phillip intends to demolish and redevelop the Children’s Centre to create a flexible, fit-for-purpose centre that provides an engaging and stimulating environment for its children to learn, play, connect, grow, and develop and for the broader community to use. 

Situated in a residential street, the façade and street presences pay respect to the original Victorian era building and surrounding heritage homes and are complimented by a warm and welcoming entrance foyer that also serves as a meeting place for parents and can be utilised by the local community. 

Designed around an existing tree, external courtyards provide each of the three rooms (babies, toddlers and kindergarten) with direct access to sheltered outdoor play areas and nature. Stimulating indoor and outdoor environments with sensory design elements fosters curiosity, engagement and connection and facilitates play and inquiry-based learning. 

The design maximises all opportunities to lower environmental impact through the orientation of the building, passive design principles, materials, energy and water-saving mechanisms, solar heating and cooling, thermal mass, and glazing.