Pyramid Residential Care Centre Redevelopment – Gordonvale

Pyramid Residential Care Centre (PRCC) is an independent not for profit Residential Aged Care Facility in Gordonvale, just south of Cairns.  Established by the community of Gordonvale in the 1970s, the Centre is an important service provider and employer within the township.

Clarke and Prince Architects worked extensively with the PRCC Board to establish a master planning strategy aligned with a sustainable business plan that would enable the Centre to continue providing high-quality services to the community into the future. Execution of the first stages of the redevelopment, which includes site infrastructure upgrades, refurbishment of 16no. resident rooms and new communal building was made possible through the benevolence of former resident Thomas Corbett.  A subsequent stage involved the extension of the Dining Hall and the provision of 17no. new resident rooms and support spaces. 

The site takes its name from Walsh’s Pyramid which is the dominant natural feature of the area. The existing building stock consists of relatively modest detached building wings with steeply pitched roofs and wide verandahs generously spaced across the site.  The design approach for the redevelopment works embraces these vernacular ‘cane cutter cottage’ elements in an integrated planning solution to provide a modern state of the art care facility, with emphasis on outlook, natural light, colour, texture consistent with the area.