Deakin University School of Medicine, Optometry Clinic

Set on Deakin University's Waurn Ponds campus, the School of Medicine Optometry Clinic pairs teaching with an accredited optometry practice. The model lets optometry students learn inside a working clinical environment, interacting with real patients rather than simulations.

The plan centres on a learning zone that also holds a retail display area, supported by six clinical consultation spaces, a Clinical Discussion Room for students and supervisors, and a Clinical Research Room. Bamboo panels line the walls and ceiling of the main display area, carrying the material language of the adjacent foyer into the clinic so the space reads as an extension of that public realm.

Each panel is perforated with an array of circles in varying sizes, a reference to the Ishihara test that also defines the room. Lighting and sprinklers sit within the perforation pattern, so the services fold into a warm timber envelope that marks the entry to this health education facility.

Completed in 2019 across a single level.

Architecture by Bourke and Bouteloup Architects (Sarah Bourke, Tim Daborn, Michael Bouteloup). Photography by Tom Ross.