An open facility inviting to the public, students and researchers, positioning Victoria as the country’s pre-eminent university for scientific study.
The core brief required the relocation of the School of Biological Science to a new purpose built facility on a constrained green field site on Kelburn Campus, bound by road edge and existing buildings.
The new facility forms the gateway to the sciences precinct for Victoria University and sits at the most visible public edge of the campus. This location offers a unique opportunity to directly promote the programmes offered by the precinct while directly engaging the business community with the facility – both through direct visual access and through the use of shared public/private facilities.
The design of the new building provides opportunities to enhance the attributes of the site and respond positively to the requirements of the Victoria University of Wellington Campus Development Plan. Through the design process the new facility provides not only a science facility that will support the highest standards of scholarship and research to be benchmarked with international equivalents and a New Zealand exemplar, but also provides a new legible gateway to the campus, a cohesive science precinct, and stronger connections through the campus as a whole, enhancing Victoria University's dynamic student culture.
Warren and Mahoney, in association with Jackson Architecture (Melbourne).
