Science Centre
Science Centre
Client:
The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
Location:
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Completion:
2016
Size:
23,000m2
Contact:
James Mooney
Located at the corner of Wellesley and Symonds Streets, the Science Centre is the anchor project of The University’s Science Precinct. Building occupants, including the Schools of Psychology, Chemistry and Environment, are organised across 22,000m2 of new floor area over 11 storeys.
The project sought to bring together a number of occupants that had, historically, been separately accommodated in an age where many of the recent advances in science have occurred outside the traditional disciplinary boundaries. Accordingly, perhaps the key aspect of the brief was the emphasis on the social aspirations of the project and the desire to encourage or facilitate cross disciplinary interaction.
The building idea, developed during the competition stage, proposed an organisational strategy that promotes the social aspects of the brief through the arrangement of the spaces in section. Activities are organised around a series of staggered internal “rooms” creating a flexible environment for research, learning and interdisciplinary communication. These rooms, arranged one above the other, commence at the ground plane with an open and transparent student environment connecting to the adjoining streetscape and campus public spaces. Above this, an intermediate room connects staff and undergraduates whilst the uppermost room brings together the specialised postgraduate research spaces.
Each of the rooms, or atria, are uniquely detailed with the material palette and lighting providing a different character to the various spaces encouraging different modes of occupation and enabling a variety of spatial experiences. Student environments are warmly coloured and feature bespoke mobile furniture elements and a palette of stone, steel, glass and concrete minimising the need for maintenance and refinishing. Spaces above this feature timber panelling together with more muted tones. A continuous staircase, connecting all levels of the building, changes detail and materiality from a lacquer finish to stained veneer and digitally printed glass as it passes through the atria.
Throughout the building, generous common spaces provide for informal and peer-to-peer learning including flexible / mobile furniture and quiet spaces. Breakout spaces, social staircases and generous circulation areas encourage casual meetings and chance encounters.
A series of display cases and purpose-built alcoves enable the display of working models, artefacts and processes, communicating to the broader community the work aspirations and achievements of the occupants.
Acknowledging the building occupants, numerous references to the hexagons found in chemical diagrams are integrated in the patterning and articulation of interior and exterior elements.
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Client:
The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
Location:
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Completion:
2016
Size:
23,000m2
Contact:
James Mooney
Awards
NZIA New Zealand Architecture Award – Education 2018
PCNZ Property Industry Merit Award – Education 2018
NZIA Auckland Architecture Award – Education 2018
