Transforming Healthcare at BCHS Eaglehawk
Project Information
Location: Eaglehawk, Victoria
Designer: EBD Architects
Installer/Builder: Franklin Projects
Products used: Zen Embossed Panel
Date: 2025
Photography: Elizabeth Schiavello
The Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) Eaglehawk Community Medical Centre demonstrates how thoughtful design can elevate healthcare beyond functionality, creating an environment that promotes wellbeing, comfort, and connection. Designed by EBD Architects, the project transformed an ageing medical facility delivering a contemporary health hub that supports a broad range of services while prioritising the experience of patients, staff, and the community.
Responding to the evolving needs of Bendigo Community Health Services and the Eaglehawk region, the design retains the original building structure while reconfiguring the interior to accommodate general practice, mental health consultation and treatment rooms, pathology services, exercise physiology, occupational therapy, community education spaces, staff amenities, and flexible areas for engagement and support.
Creating an environment that balanced acoustic performance, durability, and visual appeal was a key priority throughout the design. Healthcare settings often experience high levels of activity, making effective acoustic treatment essential for supporting privacy, reducing noise, and improving comfort for patients, visitors, and staff.
To help achieve these objectives, Zen Embossed Panel in colour 384 Olive was installed throughout the centre. Inspired by the flowing lines and raked grooves of a Japanese Zen garden, the distinctive fluted profile introduces texture, rhythm, and visual warmth while serving as a refined architectural feature. The colour complements the project's palette, enhancing the sense of calm and contributing to a welcoming, wellbeing-focused environment.
Beyond their aesthetic contribution, the panels play an important functional role by reducing reverberation and improving acoustic comfort in busy healthcare spaces. Their durable, low-maintenance surface makes them particularly well suited to healthcare environments, supporting practical requirements such as longevity, cleaning, and ongoing maintenance. The combination of performance and design helps create quieter, more comfortable interiors that support positive experiences at the centre.
The BCHS Eaglehawk Community Medical Centre demonstrates how architecture, materiality, and evidence-based design can work together to support health and wellbeing. Through spatial clarity, environmental performance, acoustic comfort, and a strong focus on human experience, the project creates a contemporary healthcare environment where people feel valued, supported, and welcome. This holistic approach has been recognised through multiple industry accolades, including a shortlisting in the Health & Wellbeing Space category at the INDE.Awards 2026, the 2026 AIA Regional Architecture Prize (Victoria), and a shortlist in the Institutional category of the IDEA 2026 Awards, with winners to be announced in December 2026.