Monash Sound Shell, Clayton
A place for performance – music, dance, theatre and film – the sound shell acts as a catalyst to enliven the entire surrounding precinct.
Finalist – Standalone Structure Category
National Timber Design Awards 2015
Design Response
The Sound Shell is a place for performance – music, dance, theatre, speeches, group exercises and motion pictures. Performance requires actor(s) and audience. For enhanced visibility and to mark a separation between actor and audience, the actor is elevated on a platform. The audience remains on the ground plane. To further mark the special qualities of the performance space (and to shelter the actor) we give the platform a roof. To facilitate access from ground to stage we add a ramp. And we introduce a thick wall at the rear of the stage housing services and equipment to aid the performers.
We keep the whole ensemble abstract and simple to encourage creative use of the structure when there is no formal performance. At these moments, the structure is occupied by individuals and small groups for work, relaxation, conversation, barbecues, parties, post-graduation photographs and games. In this way the structure becomes a place of concentrated campus culture.
The Lemon Scented Lawn is a fine example of a campus garden space. Like The Lawn at Jefferson’s University of Virginia, it can be used for both active and passive recreational activities. The space is bounded by buildings of disparate architecture and populated with copses of magnificent lemon scented and mottlecah gums. Under their canopy is a green carpet crossed by paths. The Sound Shell will be a third larger element in the composition and will offer a strong focus for the space. The existing timber ‘pods’ dispersed through the space, also abstract forms, provide places for occupation by small groups and individuals at a smaller scale than the Sound Shell. The treatment of the surface of the structure will allude to these.
Sound Shell Design Specifications
Services Provided
- Full Services
Architect
Workshop Architecture
People
Project Director: Tony Styant-Browne
Project Team: Tony Styant-Browne, James Staughton, Ming Lie
Photographer: John Gollings, Jeremy WeihrauchClient
Monash University
Date completed
December 2013
Location
Clayton, Victoria
- Big notes at Monash Uni’s small sound shell, Stephen Crafti, The Age, 7 November 2015
Related projects

Stawell Secondary College
This project celebrates the original heritage building on the campus whilst acknowledging an awakening awareness of local indigenous culture.

Mount Macedon Primary School
Wrapping indoor and outdoor learning spaces around an existing art and music room, a tight budget is cleverly used to provide a new STEAM facility.

Mernda Ambulance Station
A small but important piece of public infrastructure, making its presence felt within the evolving commercial precinct of Mernda.

Myrtleford Jubilee Park
Ties together existing and new elements within Myrtleford’s Jubilee Park creating axis and intersections that drive the geometry of new structures.

Sorrento Visitor Centre
A combination of urban design, sculpture and architecture creating new spaces for the public life of Sorrento.

Pomonal Community Hall
Expressing a moment of change in the town of Pomonal – from the memory of the existing hall to a contemporary place for the community.

NGV External Lighting
A comprehensive external lighting strategy for NGV in St Kilda Road which integrates several components into the heritage fabric of the iconic existing building.

NGV Summer Pavilion
A helium filled structure lighter than the air it displaces, tethered with weighted tension cables, resting on the courtyard surface.