In focus: University of Technology Sydney New Science Research Facility

Thank you to our clients at UTS for sharing their latest video showcasing our New Science Research Facility. Featuring Australian-first purpose-built laboratories, the extension of building CB04 delivers high-impact research at a globally competitive scale, generate greater engagement with industry, support student outcomes, and create a more attractive and engaging campus.

Featured earlier this year in Architecture & Design, the facility is described as a space for “big ideas and big breakthroughs”, meeting the increasing demand for high-tech research space. An ambitious research facility determined to make a significant contribution to the challenges of our times, the new facility aims to attract the world’s best phenomics, advanced analytics, translational medicine and chemical synthesis researchers.

Our brief was to replace the existing single level building with a seven-storey facility with world-class laboratories and safety features. The new building on this challenging infill site needed to stand alone yet align with the floorplates of the adjoining buildings to improve connectivity with campus. We also needed to future proof the building itself, rigidising the frame so that ten more storeys could one day be added.

We took an organic approach to the lab interiors, introducing into the clinical uses a warm colourful identity mimicking ‘a new dawn’, rising in colour intensity at each floor of the building. Likewise, the new nitrogen generator is showcased on Level 4 at the vibrant re-designed entrance to the building from the pedestrian bridge. On the roof is an almost otherworldly ensemble of exposed critical infrastructure.

“This facility provides them (UTS researchers) with new tools to continue their ground-breaking work. It will also be an additional drawcard to our campus, giving us capacity to continue to attract top-level researchers from all over the world,” Patrick Woods, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Resources) of UTS.

Beautifully captured in the video, the powder-coated UTS yellow flashes within window frames on the façade provide an energetic frisson – like a bolt of lightning. Drone video by UTS.