This John Wardle Architects design is driven by the idea of this building being a theatre for research – a dynamic and colourful experience that celebrates and reveals the collaborative research environment of this world class institution.
Housed within the one building is a diverse collection of the scientific community all focused on the workings of the human brain.
Included within the twenty-six different disciplines are chemists, cardiologists, neurologists and psychiatrists.
The building’s curved main campus road edge alludes to the drama within whilst the other southern edge aligns and connects carefully back into the rhythm of the existing university buildings.
John Wardle Architects pursued the idea that fostering and nurturing the collaboration across these fields is therefore fundamental to the buildings’ performance.
Their architecture – the form, circulation routes, glazing, colour and materiality – was carefully designed to create this research theatre.
Like a stage set, this facility is strategically planned with the research activity visibility emphasised and revealed across the building and between laboratories and offices.
From the first point of entry the laboratories are on display, while circulation paths become lively promenades attached to informal conversation spaces and with views into the research activities.
A specially commissioned art work “Out of Mind” by Fiona Hall interprets the work of the research teams and extends across the full height of the main atrium space.
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