The Mundaring Community Men's Shed has operated in the heart of the Mundaring township since 2007. Due to it's increasing patronage over the years it needed to grow into a bigger space & a new location. The government stumped up some funding in the form of substantial grant from the government to support it's future development and relocation to a new site. The future move is part of an extensive 10-year vision, including plans to construct a new fit-for-purpose facility, which would see the Men’s Shed equipped to expand and thrive for years to come.

The vision for the Men's Shed development is expansive in it's utility and function and needed to accommodate a range of trade / hobby tasks & community usages. These included administrations offices, main hall for gatherings & social events, commercial kitchen, separate metal & word working sheds, repair café, hobby / model building shed, community garden / nursery area, foundry / blacksmithing shed & storage units to support various community groups beyond the Men's Shed's direct needs.

The Shire of Mundaring agreed to lease 2 existing sites previously used as drainage easements closer in the industrial area of Mundaring. The site was bounded & traversed by the Golden Pipleline heritage trail,  had significant native & exotic trees, an old terminated roadway & the remainder of other remnant ad-hoc site usages of historical purpose. It also had powerlines, telephone / NBN, 600 diameter water main pipeline & stormwater drainage services scattered around the site that needed protection in perpetuity.

Plot Design worked with the client & shire to create a Mater Plan for the site, outlining the functions & arrangements of the key elements, rationalised around retaining existing significant native trees, utilising the old roadway for vehicle movements , maintained universal access between the buildings & worked in and around all the necessary setbacks from the services traversing the site. Not an easy task, but one that has developed into a walkable, functional & ecologically responsive design that meets the many faceted usages needed on the site.

Our other key deliverable was to design of the Admin Building which needed to accommodate a gallery for selling of wares, the administration offices / meeting spaces, smoko / outdoor / veranda spaces, main hall , quiet / first aid room, commercial kitchen & ablutions. We designed it to be operable for a range of hierarchal utilities & uses that would be adaptable to the function required at any set period. To facilitate this we designed the spaces to mainly be accessed from a universally accessible veranda that linked the buildings so access could be controlled easily, with linkages between usages i.e. if theres a gathering in the main hall the commercial kitchen may choose to provide supporting refreshments.

The design itself was bold & aimed to convey the Men's Shed's intrinsic value of being a shed after all. So we designed it around the key idea of being shed / shack-like, creative, industrial, rustic, open & bedded in to the landscaping around it. The design is our best take on delivering a building that sets the tone for years to come as the Men's Shed community grow into their new home.