Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong

The University of Wollongong located south of Sydney, Australia needed a new 6,900sqm, £43M state-of-the-art, high-end research facility for the centre of its Science, Medicine and Health precinct on the main university campus. Its purpose was to house £13M of specialist Microscopy equipment, Atmospheric Chemistry, PC2 laboratories and Conference space and put the University of Wollongong ‘on the map’. This flagship facility was to be exciting to look at and work in, attract and foster the best students and scientists, and position itself as a Global Top 1% University. The chosen site, previously a car park, was the perfect spot at the heart of the precinct. Jacobs and Denton Corker Marshall’s collaboration responds with two volumes connected by a glazed link. The northern rectangular volume houses laboratory functions with a link bridge connection into the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute building; the southern shared space and conference cube, forms an iconic centrepiece presiding over a new landscaped public amenity space, ‘entry square’. The microscopy suite is the key function of the building and is located on the ground floor of the laboratory volume. This Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope (Cryo-EM) suite is vibration and acoustic sensitive within its non-ferrous ‘box within a box’ construction. The three purpose-built highly specialist rooms are surrounded by laboratory and support spaces contained within crystalline structures of U-channel glazing enabling students and visitors glimpses into the ground floor functions underpinning the ‘science on display’ ethos. The laboratory volume is elevated above its crystalline base by imposing timber columns creating covered learning spaces connecting to ‘entry square’. The building is cranked in position to isolate the microscopy suite from electromagnetic interference of existing lift cores. The north and south facades exhibit staggered horizontal ribbon windows providing a unique identity to the envelope reminiscent of DNA strands. The functional floorplate of primary and secondary laboratories and write-ups is celebrated and articulated as a tripartite structure parading majestically eastwards affording views across the oval, UOW Innovation Campus and the Pacific Ocean. The architectural language of the southern cube differs to the laboratory volume with punched slotted windows allowing daylight to penetrate the spaces within. The Atmospheric Chemistry platform sits above with direct line of sight to the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials building on UOW’s Innovation Campus and the horizon beyond to record unimpeded solar data from sunrise to sunset, assisting NASA in the study of global warming. The perforated metal cube resting atop the southern volume not only provides a focal point to the precinct it also provides the optimum location for the telescope platform looking into the night sky. A glazed atrium connects the two structures with interconnecting staircases and breakout spaces for opportunities of chance meetings and collaboration. To the delight of users, the completed facility provides a “Centre of Excellence in Single Molecule and Cell Visualisation”. Molecular Horizons not only exceeds its functional performance criteria, it is enigmatic and mysterious, inviting enquiry and reading as a metaphor for the scientific investigations within.