A development application has been submitted for an integrated health, education and research precinct in Camperdown called the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator (SBA), designed by Denton Corker Marshall and HDR, in collaboration with Arcadia Landscape Architecture and Aileen Sage.
The proposed complex would be located on a vacant site at the corner of Western Avenue and Cadigal Lane in Camperdown, with the precinct comprising two wings, one named the Isaac Wakil Biomedical Building (IWBB), and the other called Building B.
According to planning documents, the IWBB wing would be sited at the University of Sydney’s Camperdown campus. The proposal states the wing would span across eight floors, with designated spaces for wet lab research, dry research, anatomical teaching, clinical research, as well as workstations. The IWBB will connect to the existing Susan Wakil Health Building (SWHB) to the north of the proposed site.
Plans show the proposed location for Building B is within the Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital site, on the boundary of the university’s Camperdown campus. Building B would primarily house specialist laboraties, along with a dry research space and biobank facility.
View from Gloucester House Courtyard and the two pedestrian bridge links.
Image:
Denton Corker Marshall
Both wings would be linked by an angled glass sheet dubbed the ‘Connector’ on the northern facade of the SBA complex. The Connector is “a dynamic 8 storey volume,” which contains “three glass lifts located in the centre of the space, the lobby to two passenger lifts in Building B, atrium voids containing two sets of cascading open interconnecting stairs… and a series of bridge links.”
Pedestrian bridges have been proposed between level three of Building B and the RPA Hospital, and between Building B and Gloucester House, to provide greater opportunities for cross discipline interaction and collaboration between the university and hospital. The glazed links will provide visual access to the activity occuring inside the bridge, while also providing new vantage points to overlook the Gloucester House courtyard.
The design team have ensured SBA’s facade is complementary to the surrounding context, including Gloucester House to the west and the Susan Wakil Health Building (SWHB) to the north. Plans state “the massing, materiality and fenestration of the SBA podium reflects Gloucester House, and its principal massing reflects SWHB with the solid podium base and floating development above, behind a lighter, shaded curtain wall facade.”
Passive design elements such as orientation, internal layout and facade shading have been incorporated to ensure the complex is well equipped to endure future weather conditions.
According to plans, the SBA would provide “increased tertiary education opportunities, the generation of new jobs and will foster research and innovation,” as well as “foster scientific innovation and collaboration, with the potential to deliver catalytic and transformational medical research outcomes, which will benefit the wider population of New South Wales and beyond.”
Denton Corker Marshall and HDR won a design competition for the project in 2022. The plans have been updated in line with recommendations presented at four Design Integrity Panel (DIP) meetings.
The application, which is now on exhibit, was submitted by the University of Sydney, in collaboration with the NSW Government (NSW Health), and the Sydney Local Health District.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
