i2C Architects has unveiled its design for Western Australia’s agriculture and food science hub, The Food Innovation Precinct.
Located in the Peel region, around 75km out from Perth, the new hub will showcase the leading technology and food science initiatives in the district’s renowned environmental cultivation and agronomy industry.
The facility, which was born of a joint vision by the Shire of Murray’s CEO Dean Unsworth and i2C Architects, will service three sectors: commercial innovation, educational research and goods production.
“Our vision was to imbue the facility’s design with a progressive character, developing a unity throughout the precinct with particular form and material selection, whilst maintaining a uniqueness to each of the individual facilities through various combinations of those selections,” said Chris Egan, lead architect at i2C Architects.
The hub feature interconnected separate departments for food science, marketing and research and development operations.
“The exposed steel frame and bracing alongside the dark shiplap cladding defines a narrative of farming and agricultural facilities, while natural timber panels are also fashioned to create external harmony that frame the transient social spaces,” added Egan.
“Unpolished concrete, brickwork and dense landscaping are used to create an external environment that is congenial to the built form.”
The master planning phase for the project focused on connectivity between each facility in the precinct, to promote cross-collaboration and community.
“These external spaces that link the precinct together help generate synergy throughout the aforementioned facilities, while the internal courtyard binds the Precinct together and acts as a bridging ‘social’ zone that encourages user networking,” said Egan.
“This is a destination that will develop its own social and cultural following through the facility’s ability to bolster the industry, but also due to the structure’s modern yet pragmatic design.”
According to the president of the Shire of Murray, David Bolt, the project will boost the Western Australian economy by more than $1 billion, bringing up to $330 million to the food and beverage sector and $737 million into the wider economy over the next five years.
“There’s nothing quite like this project in Australia – it’s a regional hub for food and agri-tech businesses, offering development and research grants which translate into between 17 and 51 new food businesses and employment creation of between 169 and 506 jobs,” added Bolt.
