This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
DENTON Corker Marshall + HDR have won the opportunity to design a new health, research and education facility in the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator (SBA), a first-of-its-kind precinct for The University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Denton Corker Marshall + HDR, in collaboration with Arcadia Landscape Architecture and Aileen Sage, won the design competition.
“We designed the building as a clear, simple sculptural form with a solid base acknowledging its campus setting; a floating top with compelling imagery alluding to both scientific investigation within and an embedded indigenous narrative in the sculptural sunscreens,” said Adrian FitzGerald, senior director at Denton Corker Marshall.
Co-funded partnership project between the NSW Government, Sydney Local Health District and The University of Sydney, the 36,000sqm integrated health, research and education facility is set to establish a new Australian benchmark for the integration of world-leading biomedical science with clinical research and innovation.
“The Sydney Biomedical Accelerator will become a global destination for biomedical research and innovation that will solve the health concerns of today, tomorrow and in future. Denton Corker Marshall have created a symbol of the future in their design, reflecting our vision for the state-of-the-art facility and its significance for NSW, Australia and beyond,” said Teresa Anderson, chief executive of Sydney Local Health District.
Representing the largest ever capital investment to build a biomedical precinct, the landmark $478 million will see a facility equipped with a range of laboratory research facilities and clinical learning spaces delivered.
“We are delighted with the winning design by Denton Corker Marshall + HDR which exemplifies the fusion of world-leading research facilities with a dynamic public realm where researchers, staff and students can all gather in a culturally significant setting. We are especially pleased with the contemporary interpretation of Indigenous sense of place and identity,” said Mark Scott, vice-chancellor and president of the University of Sydney.
Denton Corker Marshall’s design centres around connectivity, with a seven-storey circulation spine called the “Connector”, which the competition jury called a “compelling proposition, with the functionality and interconnecting qualities expected to foster collaborative interaction, providing a unique offering.”
“Our design achieves the highest level of efficiency and declares its purpose for systematic, methodical, scientific study. It is a building for the future with clarity and memorability combining to produce timeless campus architecture,” added FitzGerald.
Laboratory planning lead HDR, also designed a series of education and laboratory research facilities, specialist core laboratories and technical support spaces, for that bring together multidisciplinary teams.
“By pairing our local and global scientific expertise, we have a unique opportunity to design and deliver a series of state-of-the-art, highly adaptable biomedical laboratories where education, healthcare, engineering, and science converge, ultimately enabling SLHD and The University of Sydney to succeed in biomedical research,” said Graeme Spencer, national director of education and science at HDR.
Spencer added that while “laboratories are one of the most programmatically complex” and diverse spaces to plan, design and engineer, HDR has used its data-driven process and advanced design technologies to create a final design that is both flexible and efficient.
“The massing and materiality of the upper level ‘floating’ laboratories over a sandstone-like base…and the internal functional planning including flexibility in lab design and adjacencies, and efficiencies in laboratory spaces,” the jury commented.
Early works for the SBA are set to commence this year, with initial occupation expected from 2026.
