Springvale Gateway

The Springvale Gateway is a public building designed by SGA Design upon the commission of the local council of Greater Dandenong.

In order to create a landmark that embodies the local immigrant culture, the council decided to construct a gateway at the main entrance of the shopping area (located at the intersection of Windsor Ave and Buckingham Ave).

After intense bidding competition, SGA Design won the commission from the council and undertook the whole process of conceptual design, design development, public promotion, supplier and contractor selection, as well as construction supervision for the project.

According to the council’s design requirement, the Gateway incorporates several distinctive design elements:

• The Gateway adopts the modest and solid Northern style with flying eaves curves to reflect the “royal” style as required by the council.
• To reflect the culture of local immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Gateway does not use traditional bracket sets but instead utilizes voussoirs, which are more commonly seen in Southeast Asia and East Asia.
• All the painted artworks on the Gateway were designed by SGA Design and created using computer graphics. They include traditional Chinese paintings, as well as representative patterns from Vietnam, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, Chinese dragon motifs, and Australian symbols like eucalyptus trees and kangaroos. All the painted artworks were made using enamel techniques and have remained bright and new-looking since the Gateway was built 8 years ago.
• The Gateway simulates the timber structure of a traditional Chinese gateway, but all the structures are made of steel.

Some fun facts:

• The pedestals of the Gateway are made of white marble and have a diameter of 1.1 metres and a height of over 2.2 metres each. They encountered huge waves during shipping, causing one of the pedestals, which weighed several tons, to be lifted and smashed into another one. Fortunately, each pedestal was protected by a steel frame and remained undamaged.
• The plaque on the Gateway bears Chinese characters of “Springvale”, which were inscribed by renowned culturologist Guo Xinquan using the Han seal script font, characterized by its square and straight shape, profound simplicity, and dignified elegance, which complement the Gateway perfectly.
• The glazed roof tiles and ceramic creatures (Chinese counterparts of gargoyles) on the Gateway were produced by an old workshop in Hebei Province, who supplied glazed tiles for the Imperial Palace in ancient times.
• Since the Gateway is located in a public area where vehicles pass through, multiple safety measures were implemented during the fixing of the tiles to ensure security, which required a longer construction time. To minimize road closure time at the site, the installation of all tiles was completed on the ground in the factory. They were fixed to the frame of the two side wings and the main structure, and finally transported to the site for installation. From the perspective of local residents, it seemed like the Gateway was built overnight.