Mawson Institute, University of South Australia by Guida Moseley Brown Architects and Russell & Yelland Architects in Association

For the University of South Australia, the Mawson Institute is an affirmation of progress, an expression of both sustainable design fundamentals and the innovation of the Institute’s advanced research within. Designed by Guida Moseley Brown Architects and Russell & Yelland Architects in Association, the Mawson Institute challenges staff and students to move beyond perceptions of the sterile laboratory environment, and into a setting bound by inquest, landscape and community.

Prominently sited within the Mawson campus, the design resolution for the institute came with the need to create spaces conducive to critical research and study, management, and interaction. Read as two near-parallel wings, the building’s plan is highly organised and flexible, with one wing accommodating laboratory work areas, and the other housing offices and support. A widened interstitial space interconnects the wings together, providing main circulation and access while defining areas for informal gathering and collaboration between the academic community.

The integrative, lively ‘street’ between the wings brings a more active, social environment to the otherwise bleak typology of laboratory design. Four south-facing roof monitors allow daylight in, while the entire scheme is unified with direct access and visibility between offices, informal social spaces and labs. As part of the university’s landscape master plan, the building’s integration to the wider landscape incorporates a covered deck that overlooks a wetland swale. Connected to the building’s axial interior and a linear edge path, the deck extends over the water, bringing access to the wetlands for the campus at large.

Offices and meeting rooms overlook the wetlands and distant views, folding down over two storeys while projecting and cantilevering out. A single-sloped roof accentuates the projecting volume that defines and unifies the scheme, while at the entrance, bermed earth reflecting the surrounding terrain encloses a large meeting room to create a direct visual connection to the wider campus.

The wing of laboratories follow a systematic, modular plan designed for change and flexibility. All laboratory partitions are non-load-bearing, meaning each can be easily deconstructed, reused and relocated. A ‘peristitial’ semienclosed corridor services the labs while providing sensible shading for its users. The service corridor itself is lined by an ephemeral ‘green wall’ made of a chain link structure, planted with indigenous flora to regulate temperatures, mitigate dust, and speak to the wider landscape. The green wall nurtures laboratory occupants with an organic sheltering comfort, and creates a striking statement on sustainability in architecture on approach from Elder Smith Drive.

With environmentally sustainable design imperatives, Mawson Institute goes beyond a large green wall. Building from a primary steel structure enclosed in pre-finished metal panels, renewable, recycled, and low VOC emission materials were used where possible. Overall life cycle and embodied energy considerations were taken into account to minimise the building’s environmental footprint. The use of louvred sunscreens, controlled skylights, low-e glazing, chilled beams, energy efficient luminaries, and occupancy sensors throughout the entire project helped the Mawson Institute gain nationwide acclaim for its comprehensive sustainable design practice.

The strategic siting of the building allowed for a more integrated design approach that utilised the existing campus infrastructure. A central thermal plant provides the Mawson Institute with gas, portable water, a comprehensive fibre and data network, a recycled water system and a sophisticated Building Management System. The management system controls not only mechanical and lighting systems, but provides feedback on energy, waste and water consumption and targets for users and occupants.

The Mawson Institute was presented the highest award for sustainable architecture at the 2010 Australian Institute of Architects’ South Australian State Architecture Awards. Registered with the Green Building Council of Australia, the project awaits a Green Star Education rating to be the first in South Australia to achieve the revered appraisal.

The setting for extraordinary research to take place calls for a rejuvenated look at the typical laboratory. The Mawson Institute flourishes not only for its sustainable principles, but also through its amalgamation of flexible labs, open social spaces, and a multidisciplinary approach, calling for various research bodies to learn, collaborate and discover. +

PHOTOGRAPHY John Gollings and Steve Rendoulis 

1. Bound by open landscape and community, the Mawson Institute sets the standard as a new building for research, management and interaction. 2. The building overlooks the university’s wetland swale and distant views, projecting out and folding down. 3. Research laboratories were designed in a systematic, modular plan. 4. The building subtly folds down over two storeys clad in pre-finished metal panels. 5. A deck extends over the water connected to the building’s axis.