Colleges of Science – Bioscience Building / Lyons Architecture

Colleges of Science By Lyons Architecture - Bioscience Building 01

Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Colleges of Science – Bioscience Building

The Sciences Transformation Project located within the Banks Precinct of the Australian National University, will provide world class accommodation for the ongoing scientific endeavour of major chemistry and biological sciences teaching and research within the University.

The Biology facility will house a diverse range of research and teaching activities including evolution, ecology and sustainable environments; genetics and genomics; global change; infection and immunity and plant science. The new building will also house the NCRIS Plant Growth Facility part of a collaborative study into plant phonemics, along with a purpose designed student drop in centre, facilitating integration between undergraduate teaching and laboratory based research.

The Australian National University (ANU) has an international reputation for its undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and for its intensive research programs. The Colleges of Science is a major new project within the Acton campus on the western edge of Canberra’s city centre. It includes several new buildings and the refurbishment of a number of older buildings and aims to provide world class facilities for major chemistry and biological sciences teaching and research within a single precinct.

The planning and layout of the greater precinct is based on key desire lines through the campus. The large and expressed interconnecting stairs of the biosciences building are based on the mitotic chromosome. This stair provides primary circulation within the building whilst forming the main entry and façade on the western side. The connection provides users with a meeting point and emphasises the collaboration occurring within. In strategic locations elsewhere, a number of recessed cellular excavations provide additional entry points and have a direct relationship with surrounding outdoor spaces.

The buildings explore a variety of cellular and molecular structures that are reflected in the architectural expression of the building, as if ideas and knowledge occurring within the building can be shown on the exterior. The façade repetition includes a consistent material use throughout the precinct.

The project provides the ANU with a top-class sciences precinct innovatively designed to provide maximum flexibility for research and teaching and with future adaptability to accommodate long-term research demands and teaching methods.

Project Data

Project name: Colleges of Science – Bioscience Building
Location: Barry Drive, Acton, Canberra, Australia
Type: College, University, Reseach / laboratories Center
Project Area: N/A
Site Area: N/A
Project Year: 2010
Completion Year: 2011

Awards:

2012 ACT Architecture Awards Winners : COMMENDATION FOR PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE

The people

Client / Owner / Developer: The Australian National University (ANU)
Architects: Lyons Architecture
Project Team: Lyons (Project Architect/Design Architect/Interior Designer)
Builder: Hindmarsh
Structural/Civil/Traffic Consultant: Mott McDonald Hughes Trueman
Electrical/Mechanical/Hydraulic /Fire Services/Vertical Transportation Consultant: Umow Lai
Landscape Consultant: Harris Hobbs
Cost Consultant: WT Partnership
Certification Consultant & Building Surveyor: Philip Chun & Associates
Disability Access Consultant: Eric Martin & Associates
Consulting Hydraulic Engineer: Rimmington & Associates
Text Description: © Courtesy of ANU, architecture.com.au, facilities.anu
Images: © Dianna Snape