South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute | Woods Bagot

Reinforcing South Australia as a major health and medical research center, the 323,000-square-foot (30,000-square-meter) building is positioned alongside the Royal Adelaide Hospital and accommodates up to 700 researchers from around the world. The transparent facade showcases two internal atriums, while the building’s form is further expressed by its unique triangulated dia-grid facade inspired by the skin of a pine cone and responds to the position of the sun. The sculptural qualities of SAHMRI’s form aim to inspire and promote the building’s function. Inside, employees enjoy nine flexible research modules.

Urban design and public domain

The SAHMRI will build upon the quality of the North Terrace Boulevard and reinforce the new medical and health precinct to the West side of the City. A state of the art facility that will provide a resource to both the public and the users to seamlessly interact with its surroundings, show casing sustainable urban design strategies and successfully interact with Adelaide’s public transport, cycling and walking networks.

The built form arrangement of the SAHMRI acknowledges its sense of place within the green belt of the Adelaide parklands. The lifting of the building allows the parklands to extend below and create a notion of a “Building in the Parkland”.

Architectural expression

The sculpture qualities of its form aim to attract interest inspire and promote the buildings function. The lifting of the building acts to liberate the ground plane to encourage public interaction, while the transparent facade showcases the 2 atriums inside the building. The west atria expresses the entry and bridge links between the laboratories while the east atria expresses the active workplace environment inside. Together with the expression of the laboratory flues outside the west facade, the function of the building is clear and aims to promote the importance of the research within.

The building form is further expressed by its unique triangulated diagrid facade inspired by the skin of a pine cone. The form and its articulated skin adapt and respond to its environment, becoming a living organism. The triangulated structure and articulated sunshade allows for a singular skin to the building to create a sculptured object.

Facade geometry developed from the basic functional program of the building floor plate sculpted to express an organic object from its inherent functional symmetry, ready for the application of the triangular diagrid skin modulation. This modulation had to integrate with both human scale and the higher floor to floor separation required by the intense services of a laboratory building.

The interior palette is designed to breathe light and life into the working environment. A restrained selection of materials acknowledges the play of light created by the building skin and allows it to transform the spaces over the course of the day. Injections of colour are introduced though permanent walls and flexible furniture pieces that will be moved over time to suit the users’ needs.

Intensive environmental analysis dictated the building’s form, allowing it to achieve its best solar orientation. Internal floor plate functions are arranged to allow maximum daylight in east facing write-up spaces while the enclosed solid lab support spaces located on the west provides protection from the harsh west sun.

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Gallery: Drawings

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Project Details

Architects: Woods Bagot and Research Facilities Design (RFD)
Facade Consultants: Aurecon
Client: South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure (DPTI)
Address: Adelaide, South Australia
Area: 25,000 sq m
Status: Completed
Completion Date: 2013

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Article via Woods Bagot | Photography: © Trevor Mein