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PROJECT REPORT: SUSTAINABLE BUILDING DESIGN
director at Irving Smith Architects and an associate professor at the University of Auckland, as well as fulfilling this brief, the building has already had a positive reception following its 2021 completion. He says this is “a recognition of the outward thinking to the building and its contribution and invitation to the community.” He says that in so doing, the building provides “a real-life experience of science.” Smith explains that, as a new insertion within an ageing existing campus, the building achieves a lot in improving the sprawling site’s ‘key adjacencies.’ The architect says the careful building placement “consolidates and links the campus” by relocating an existing laboratory block to “enable the new building platform,” and it also “boldly connects” the new hub to two existing blocks (including one of laboratories). This also has the benefit of “triggering public Health & Safety control points.”
The diagrid “legibly demonstrates that timber buildings do not need to be designed like steel and concrete buildings”
He tells me that this placement also capitalises on the opportunity to shift the campus’ entrance from the former “confused” approach from Sala Street, to a more scenic alternative through towering redwoods (along Titokorangi Drive). Scion’s new hub slowly reveals itself and is only fully viewed once visitors pass through the entry gates.
Three peaks Forming a trio of ‘peaks’ in glulam timber, the entranceway has been designed to
reference the three Hapu (Māori tribes) in the region, “standing proud and tall” as users enter the building, says Smith. Visitors passing beneath this portal are greeted by a triple-height atrium, containing a curated exhibition of wood fibre technology.
Just as on the approach from the road, once within the building, it reveals its nature slowly, “like a forest,” says the architect. Natural light penetrates deep inside thanks to the extensive glazing, continually changing throughout the day as if “under a tree canopy.” Fully exposed and immediately obvious inside is the structural diagrid, which rises three storeys to form the skeleton of the building. Made of high- performance LVT (Laminated Veneer Lumber), the skeleton features dovetail node joints which have been slotted and glued together.
The triple-height atrium is topped by a spectacular custom-designed wooden ceiling (reportedly inspired by the genomic structure of the radiata pine used for the building’s frame). According to the architects, the timber battens and plywood panels in subtle tones are intended to depict the ‘barcoding’ effect that comes from the plant’s DNA. The arrangement of atrium ceiling lights is intended to represent the Matariki star cluster, a much-loved astrological feature in New Zealand which is described as ‘mother Matariki and her six daughters,’ the stars’
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ADF MAY 2022
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