MPH HQ is the offices and work site for one of Alice Springs’ medium-sized building contractors. The owner/client wanted a vehicle that would showcase their capabilities, and a project to occupy some of their staff during times of uneven work flow.
The core of the building is a large steel work shed, operating as a dynamic space that changes from day to day as materials and vehicles for worksites come and go. A long open edge of the shed faces due north, providing shade in summer and sun penetration in winter, offsetting the sub-zero temperatures that builders face in early morning starts.
A difficult site orientation led to the main visual feature of the façade – a series of large enveloping sunhoods, designed carefully to exclude 99% of direct sun from the problematic SSW aspect. The sunhoods are crystalline, geometric shapes formed from the same Colorbond sheet as the big shed.
