In this episode of Talking Architecture & Design, host Clémence Carayol heads to Melbourne’s west to unpack one of Australia’s most ambitious health projects: the new Footscray Hospital. 

More than a deep dive into a major piece of infrastructure, the conversation explores how architecture can reshape the experience of healthcare itself.

The $1.5 billion hospital, designed by COX Architecture in collaboration with Billard Leece Partnership, is delivered by the Plenary Health consortium with Multiplex as builder, alongside the Victorian Government and Western Health. 

Joining the podcast are COX Executive Chair Patrick Ness and BLP Principal Mark Mitchell, who reflect on the ideas behind what has become affectionately known as “the People’s Hospital”.

Central to the discussion is the decision to conceive the hospital as a campus rather than a monolithic building. Five interconnected structures are organised around a village green, forming a civic heart that prioritises clarity, orientation and connection. 

This landscape-led approach reframes the hospital as a place people might visit for a coffee or a walk, not only in moments of illness, reinforcing its role as social and civic infrastructure.

Ness and Mitchell also discuss how human-centred design principles shaped everything from intuitive wayfinding and daylight-filled interiors to the careful management of scale in such a vast facility. 

Access to nature, cultural inclusion informed by collaboration with First Nations Elders, and a strong emphasis on staff wellbeing emerge as critical drivers of the design.

The episode also tackles future-facing challenges. Sustainability targets, including Green Star and WELL aspirations, influenced material choices and building performance, while lessons from COVID-19 informed flexibility and pandemic preparedness.

As the Footscray Hospital opens, this episode positions it as a powerful benchmark for healthcare architecture: a place where clinical excellence, community identity and long-term resilience are designed to coexist.