Client: Australian National University (ANU)
Laboratory Architect: Hassell Architects
Builder: Hindmarsh
Location: Australian Capital Territory
Project: Teaching and Research Laboratories
Completion Date: December 2021
Scale: 9,636 sqm
The project involved the expansion of the faculties 1969 modernist building originally designed by Eggleston, MacDonald and Secomb.
A key challenge was designing laboratories for an expanding faculty whose specific needs were still emerging, which is why the interior is inherently flexible with reconfigurable lab benching and service spine systems developed in collaboration with Hassell by reinventing existing KPD systems to meet the very specific brief.
The result is that the services spines are set at a higher level than usual. These are also designed to carry a greater number for laboratory services requiring an enlarged duct capacity and more complex segregation options to responds to the variations in the types of services fitted presently and in future. The modified KPD systems allow for the myriad of configurations without compromising physical containment regulations.
