Lightweight, strong and versatile, light gauge steel framing made from TRUECORE® steel is a key structural component that shapes the striking, curved masonry façade of The Round performing arts centre.
| Project – The Round – Performing Arts Centre Location – Nunawading, Victoria Principal Steel Product – 23 tonnes of light gauge steel framing made from TRUECORE® steel Builder – Kane Constructions Steel fabricator – CMG Frames Architects – BKK Architects and Kerstin Thompson Architects Brick façade fabricator – Modular Masonry Photography – CMG Frames, Modular Masonry and Derek Swalwell |
Set in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading, The Round is a performing arts centre that was commissioned by the City of Whitehorse to provide local residents with a facility for community engagement, performance, entertainment and celebration.
The Round performing arts centre replaced the 30-year-old Whitehorse Centre and incorporates a new 626-seat proscenium theatre, a 203-seat black box theatre, rehearsal studios, function rooms, and a large foyer area for pre-event hospitality. Additionally, one of the building’s curved exterior elevations provides the basis for a ‘sound shell,’ extending the centre’s theatrical spaces to an open-air amphitheatre.
Designed by BKK Architects and Kerstin Thompson Architects, the building’s imposing, curved, red brick façade was created to respond to its surrounding residential environment. Its distinctive shape was derived from a contextual map of the site, with circles drawn around the surrounding community zones: sports grounds to the east, family homes to the north and northeast, parklands to the west and southwest, and the Whitehouse Road and council buildings to the south. The area remaining between these circles inspired the building’s concave-shaped footprint and distinctive façades, with each face of the building addressing a different community zone of influence.
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The ground floor brick façade was constructed in the typical manner, using full bricks with mortar. However, in order to improve the overall construction program and delivery timeline, Kane Constructions identified an opportunity to use brick slips for the building’s upper levels. Early-stage collaboration between Kane Constructions, CMG Frames and Modular Masonry enabled the realisation of this solution. CMG Frames was engaged to develop an engineered light gauge steel (LGS) framing system that would support ‘thin bricks’ without compromising the architects’ design intent for the façades.
Large LGS frames made from TRUECORE steel were prefabricated to support the second-storey brick façade, which was installed over several weeks rather than months, as required with traditional brick‑laying. An additional benefit was that the mobile lifting equipment used to position the prefabricated panels eliminated the need for scaffolding, ensuring internal trades could work concurrently.
According to Dan Thomson, business development manager at CMG Frames, “The build was a large-scale, complex project which combined multiple curved and straight prefabricated wall panels to deliver a dynamic articulated façade. It required custom-made frames, bespoke fixing brackets and 3D shop drawings integrated into the project’s overall BIM model. The 3D modelling approach taken reduced the reliance on RFIs (‘request for information’ to clarify documents, drawings, specifications or other project issues), which expedited the build and maintained the project timeline.”
Takota Williams-Roszczyk, director of Modular Masonry, added, “In an era where skilled craftsmanship is rare, and project demands are ever-increasing, builders and architects need innovative solutions. Our approach combines prefabricated LGS framing with our brick slip façade system, providing a practical and efficient solution to meet these challenges.”
Engineered by LD Consulting Engineers, the curved frames use laser-cut profiled tracks, cut to an exact radius in the steel, ensuring the accuracy of the architectural design. All parties collaborated to create a 3D model of the entire building façade so that individual frame sizes and their connection points could be determined, and the engineering requirements for each frame could be resolved.
CMG Frames used approximately 23 tonnes of LGS framing made from TRUECORE steel in this project to make the 162 framed panels, each around 4 metres by 6 metres in size. The frames were all designed, engineered and fabricated at the company’s manufacturing facility in Sunshine West, Victoria.
“Our passion is using our knowledge and experience to create innovative framing solutions to solve complex design challenges and see those buildings come to life in a finished form,” says Luke Cockerell, managing director of CMG Frames.
“We’re proud to have partnered with Kane Constructions and Modular Masonry to help deliver such an iconic civic structure.”
From inception to the delivery of the finished prefabricated panels, a collaborative team of 20 staff worked to deliver the project in three stages, aligned with the construction process.
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