Louvres from Safetyline Jalousie met all the objectives of the architects during the design of the La Trobe Sports Stadium located at La Trobe University’s Bundoora campus.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney Architects, the new state-of-the-art sports stadium is part of La Trobe’s $150-million Sports Park development – a key component of the University’s ambitious $5 billion University City of the Future plan to transform Melbourne’s north.

Warren and Mahoney’s design for the stadium intended to create a community destination that was active on all days – day and night – for both elite athletes and social players.

The indoor courts, which play host to basketball, badminton, netball, futsal and volleyball among many more indoor sporting activities, feature louvres on all four facades of the building to maximise cross flow ventilation.

Safetyline Jalousie was selected to supply the louvres after the Warren and Mahoney design team researched various options.

Given the nature of sporting activities on the indoor courts and the risk of ball impact, they required a product that would be robust and secure. Having been tested to withstand up to 550kg of force, Safetyline Jalousie louvres met both requirements.

Acoustics was also a concern in the indoor environment due to the possibility of spectator noise being amplified out to the rest of the Sports Park. Again, Safetyline Jalousie had the appropriate test data displaying the required sound reduction.

Safetyline Jalousie not only met the performance criteria but also the desired aesthetics with the extra wide spans of the louvres blending well with the building, which utilises vast contrasting proportions of glass, aluminium, steel and timber.

Manufactured in Australia, Safetyline Jalousie louvres were delivered to the site as a prefabricated and assembled unit; this also allowed quick and simple installation, avoiding delays for the project timeline.

Safetyline Jalousie supplied 373 louvres measuring 2244mm height x 1385mm width in aluminium construction, finished in Dulux Duratec Monument Matt colour. The louvres were operated with motorised LDF100 drives.