REALM is the state-of-the-art Ringwood Library, Cultural, Knowledge and Innovation Centre developed as part of the expansion of Eastland Shopping Centre.
The three level facility comprises a comprehensive customer service centre, an art gallery, youth zone, café, library, break out spaces and an Innovation & Business Centre.
Buchan worked in collaboration with façade designer Acme on the centre, which embodies the civic and cultural aspirations of Maroondah City Council (MCC), QIC and the local community, interacting with open air gathering spaces, cafes and shops to form the heart of the community.
Buchan’s interior design concept for the centre took inspiration from both the forms of the diagrid façade and the natural environment. In homage to the surrounding urban grain, high feature eucalypt timber, a species native to the region, was integrated into custom designed joinery and textures and fabric colours for furniture were selected in response to native floras.
The feature bookshelf wall was inspired by the rugged terrain of the nearby Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges, with the contours of the shelf cavities referencing the curvaceous form of the mountains.
