Maitland City Bowling Club

An existing bowling club required a significant transformation to address energy and occupation issues while signalling a new identity for the club. They understood that a long-term vision was required to ensure that the club could maintain relevance in an ever-changing entertainment and community landscape – a dilemma portrayed in the Australian cinema classic “Crackerjack”. TERROIR’s masterplan, developed in response to a forensic analysis of market and visitation data, gave the club the confidence to transform the building and the organisation over a 10-year period.

The design solution evolved from a need to address these issues in an economical yet substantive manner, and one that enabled a “complete” stage of works while enabling further improvements over time.  In all, three major stages of work were undertaken.

The first stage was a new façade and verandah that spanned 110 metres long by two metres wide. It created new internal areas oriented towards the bowling green and contributed to a new brand identity for the club. Most importantly, the new façade vastly improved the building’s energy consumption.  A second stage saw the transformation of the foyer, while the third and final stage introduced a series of major new functions spaces.  Each stage built on the previous one, minimising redundancy, energy and carbon wastage.