The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute designed by Woods Bagot is the winner of the Derrick Kendrick Award for Sustainable Architecture, at the 2014 South Australian Architecture Awards.
The jury was particularly keen to see projects which demonstrated that sustainability was a consideration from the earliest design stages, and where the program and built form had been clearly influenced by a desire for sustainability. Of less interest to the jury were ‘bolt-on’ technologies such as photovoltaic panels that may more often indicate a generous budget than a desire for sustainable design.
By embedding the sustainability at the core of the design process, architects have convinced the client to ’re-think’ the typical arrangement of laboratory work-flows. As a result, the SAHMRI clearly sets up a new benchmark for research facilities.
With a climate-adapting building skin the iconic building is also the first LEED Gold rated laboratory in Australia. The highly modelled and modulated external skin uses a repeated but modified triangulated module which responds to the passage of the sun throughout the day and over the year.
The building also won the Keith Neighbour Award for Commercial Architecture, the Robert Dickson Award for Interior Architecture, the Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture and the Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture. Congratulations to Woods Bagot.
Photo: ©Woods Bagot