With health and wellbeing its central philosophy, Mingara One Fitness Centre, located on the New South Wales Central Coast, wants its members to feel inspired by their impressive surrounds. Mingara Recreation Club, together with Sandy Strazds of Graphite Architects, had specific ideas about what the centre was to look like, but logistically, the scale of the building made things difficult when it came to implementing the design.
The external facade of the centre is nine metres in height and Graphite Architects wanted to specify striking timber blades that reached the full height of the building, rather than panelling.
“These timber blades were fundamental to our design to offer sun shading to the fully glazed western facade of the building, while still offering filtered views,” said Sandy. That product is the Hyne Beam 21 – a laminated beam produced from richly coloured and textured Australian red hardwoods. It is a naturally durable, termite-resistant timber that has an outstanding record for strength and performance.