EcolibriumTHE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF AIRAH DECEMBER 2014 · VOLUME 13.11

House of paneBehind SAHMRI’s façade.

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ECOLI B R I U M • DECE M B E R 201422

Adelaide’s skyline is

experiencing perhaps its

biggest change in more than a

century, with the new SAHMRI

building among its most

recent additions. SAHMRI’s

triangulated wrap-around

façade is bringing a new look

and world-leading science

to the City of Churches.

Sean McGowan reports.

Adelaide has been known as the City

of Churches since at least 1872, when

English novelist Anthony Trollope used

the moniker in his travelogue Australia

and New Zealand.

A city founded on civil liberties and

religious tolerance, some of Adelaide’s

oldest buildings are in fact places of

worship. These include Holy Trinity built

in 1838, Quaker Meeting House (1840),

Scots’ Church (1851), Brougham Place

United Church (c.1861) and St Peter’s

Cathedral (c.1878). It’s easy to see why

the label stuck.

The cityscape, however, is rapidly changing. And the triangulated wrap-around façade of SAHMRI – the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute – is one of the stunning additions to a city that is increasingly being defined by its secular rather than religious architecture.

WORLD-CLASS PRECINCTWinning praise right across Adelaide’s community is rare given the city’s preference for conservative design. Yet it seems the glistening form of the SAHMRI building has done just that.

Located on North Terrace overlooking the River Torrens, SAHMRI is soon to be joined by the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, due for completion in 2016.

These two facilities will then be accompanied by the University of

Shimmer

C O V E R F E A T U R E

Open-air service corridors flash primary colours through the west facade, just one of the many ways the SAHMRI building reveals the activity within. Image: Peter Clarke courtesy of Woods Bagot.

23D ECE M B E R 2014 • ECOLI BR I U M

Adelaide’s new Integrated Clinical School, and the Interprofessional Health Clinic (incorporating an expanded Centre for Cancer Biology), which is attached to the nearby University of South Australia.

Together, they will form the South Australian Health and Biomedical Precinct, the largest health precinct in the southern hemisphere.

But for now, it is SAHMRI that dominates the site.

Designed by architects Woods Bagot, the institute accommodates more than 600 researchers from South Australia and elsewhere in about 25,000 sq m of space described as a “liberating new lab typology that promotes collaboration and medical discovery”.

Its unique form is the result of two key issues confronted by Woods Bagot: the urban context, and the specific

requirements of the research module design comprised of two lab modules that have a circulation/collaboration zone between them.

“The building had to respond equally in all directions, towards the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace and the parklands [across the river],” says Gavin Kain, principal with Woods Bagot.

Such an aspiration meant there could be no “back” of the building.

This led to the development of a diamond-shaped form that has been rotated off Adelaide’s CBD grid to create a shared plaza with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

And it was also the driver for the building’s distinctive, transparent façade.

“Because the building needed to be an object in the parkland setting, it had to read as a complete form from every direction,” says Kain. “This required a wrap.”

“And a diagonal and triangulated façade was the most efficient method to achieve this outcome.”

PERFORMANCE AND BIOMIMICRYIt was here that environmental design consultants Atelier Ten joined the project.

Recommended to Kain by the Woods Bagot New York studio, Atelier Ten was able to provide a unique skill-set that focused on the façade’s real-time thermal performance and modelling.

Atelier Ten’s Paul Stoller, M.AIRAH, who was based at the firm’s New York office at the time, describes the collaboration between the two firms as suitably “intense”.

“A high level of collaboration is always required on any successful façade design,” Stoller says.

“There are so many critical project outcomes affected – aesthetics, cost, buildability, structural and moisture performance – plus all the environmental concerns of solar control, daylighting and glare control and thermal comfort.

“These factors affect almost all project design and construction disciplines, so all need to be involved.”

Atelier Ten first developed an environmental performance brief for the

façade that considered daylight, solar protection, visual comfort and thermal comfort, before working with Woods Bagot to develop a range of concepts.

Several options underwent full analysis, including frit, clear glazing and multiple versions of sun hoods.

After first considering the options, Atelier Ten set about quantitatively analysing them against the brief so that design decisions informed by performance outcomes could be made.

Stoller says the final façade design is a rational approach to the problem of cladding a complex, curved building mass in a way that allowed for effective external shading.

“The curves of the building mass, plus the large façade spans around the atria, suggested a diagrid structure,” he says, “and this gave us the triangulations.”

The triangulations suggested three different external shading strategies. But for various reasons a shading hood option was adopted over alternatives such as extruded cowl-like mullions or slatted louvres.

Before the introduction of the diagrid (see breakout), designers had also considered a range of layered or double-façade shading strategies. But it chose not to pursue these for reasons of high cost, and a fear that the extra layers would overly obscure views into the building.

“Once we had the diagrid and the triangulated hoods, the resolution of the overall design was an optimisation exercise around the hood dimensions and translucency through perforation,” Stoller says, “which we learned we did not require to achieve our performance goals.”

At this point, the design team looked to biomimicry as a sub-theme. This is where the first reference to the façade resembling a pine cone emerged.

“There were moments when we ‘gut-checked’ the design direction against

C O V E R F E A T U R E

The research was to

be celebrated and

expressed rather

than hidden

ECOLI B R I U M • DECE M B E R 201424

C O V E R F E A T U R E

natural forms, like pine cones,” says

Stoller, “to confirm that we liked the

architectural expression.”

The SAHMRI façade design was also

checked against precedent architecture,

such as the durian-like façade of

Singapore’s Esplanade Theatres, also

designed by Atelier Ten almost 20 years

ago (Ecolibrium, May 2014).

The result is a unique facade that

responds to the activities within the

SAHMRI facility.

SCIENCE UNCOVEREDParametric modelling determined

the shape and size of the hoods in all

locations, with the exact geometry of each

modified on its orientation.

For instance, the hoods are thinner over the building’s two atria, where more daylight and direct sun is welcome.

Yet the hoods are deeper where uniformly controlled daylight, which is free of direct sunlight, is preferred for both thermal and visual comfort reasons.

“Shallower hoods admit more daylight,” says Stoller. “Deeper hoods cut out direct sun, minimise glare, and even out daylighting within adjacent workplaces, where the desired light quality is more uniform and quiet.”

To celebrate the scientific research conducted within the building, “transparency” became a key design theme. Some 6,300 triangular glass panels are used across the SAHMRI façade.

“It was important that the public could see into the building and that the researchers could see out,” says Kain. “The research was to be celebrated and expressed rather than hidden.”

To achieve this, the hoods are designed to allow the public to view up and under them, into the workspace. The researchers can look out and down to the public realm. Common areas, such as the café, are largely free of the sun hoods to provide uninterrupted views of the adjacent parkland.

The building form and layout also responded to orientation, which Kain says was more intuitive than engineering-led.

A typical floor plate consists of two research lab modules, which can accommodate dry-lab or wet-lab fit-outs. This design aims to foster collaboration between researchers.

Those research spaces requiring close temperature and light control were placed on the west side of the building, where heat loads are greatest. Spaces requiring more daylight were placed in areas of lower heat load.

“The thermal modelling then responded to and supported this intuitive response,” says Kain.

DIAGRID DEFINEDA diagrid (a portmanteau of diagonal grid) is a design for constructing large buildings with steel that creates triangular structures with diagonal support beams. It requires less structural steel than a conventional steel frame.

Hearst Tower in New York City, designed by Sir Norman Foster, reportedly uses 21 per cent less steel than a standard design.

The Diagrid also obviates the need for large corner columns, and provides a better distribution of load in the case of a compromised building. Another building designed by Sir Norman Foster, 30 St Mary Axe, known as “the Gherkin”, also makes use of this structural system.

From Wikipedia.

By design, the west-facing atrium admits direct sunlight to animate the building’s public entry. Image: Peter Clarke courtesy of Woods Bagot.

ECOLI B R I U M • DECE M B E R 201426

C O V E R F E A T U R E

THE YELLOW BRICK ROADThe high-performance façade and building form are just part of the reason SAHMRI has become Australia’s first LEED Gold-rated laboratory facility. Naturally, building services and systems also played a critical role in meeting this target.

LEED Gold is roughly the equivalent of 5 star Green Star.

Invited by Woods Bagot to participate in the winning bid team, NDY was responsible for mechanical, hydraulics, medical gases, BMS, acoustics, fire engineering and energy modelling on the SAHMRI project.

Aurecon provided structural and electrical engineering services. ESD was completed by Cundall.

Again, close collaboration was required throughout the engineering design phase and ensured the building’s services infrastructure could be adequately accommodated. Accordingly, building information management (BIM) became an important conduit for coordination among the design team.

“Laboratory buildings have a considerable amount of specialist services within the ceiling spaces and riser space, and hence require a high level of coordination,” says NDY director George Balales.

“The use of 3D modelling was essential to ensure the services were adequately

coordinated and that site clashes were minimised to avoid unnecessary costs and time delays. This also enabled congested spaces to be spatially optimised between services, architecture and structure.”

BIM was also an invaluable tool in allowing the client to visualise the design, as well as to test construction sequencing options.

Balales says Woods Bagot played an integral part in the BIM process.

“They provided us with a parametric model of the building from the outset, and this model evolved through the

duration of the design process,” he says. “As spaces and details changed, the agreed interrelationships were maintained, such as clearance zones for maintenance and accessibility purposes.”

SAHMRI SERVICESThe very nature of the research conducted within its walls makes SAHMRI a heavily serviced building.

Incorporating HVAC ductwork, VAV boxes, chilled-water and heating-water pipework, fume cupboard flues, exhaust ducts, laboratory gas pipework, quench pipes, sprinkler pipework and the myriad

LESSONS FROM THE CONSULTANT“ A big lesson was that a complex façade could be conceived and developed through to concept confirmation in remarkably little time through a collaborative, iterative design process.” – Paul Stoller, M.AIRAH, Atelier Ten.

“ It is possible to work effectively across great distance, so long as there is regular and effective communication. This requires additional coordination work to move documents and information back and forth, but that effort brought talents from around the world to bear on the SAHMRI project, and delivered the extraordinary façade.” – Paul Stoller, Atelier Ten.

“ One aspect that needs to be communicated very clearly at the outset [of the project] is the level of detail or LOD agreed to for the design. And even more important is to communicate the LOD during the appointment of trades and builder, especially in the context of an ECI arrangement.” – Keith Davis, NDY.

Collaborative lounges welcome researchers to the east-facing atrium. Image: Peter Clarke courtesy of Woods Bagot.

27D ECE M B E R 2014 • ECOLI BR I U M

C O V E R F E A T U R E

of data cable and electrical trays into the space allocated all presented challenges to NDY’s design.

“Coordination is not just about successfully bundling these services up into the ceiling space,” says Keith Davis, NDY’s director of health services.

“It is also about ensuring that those components that need to be readily accessed can be easily serviced, and that spare capacity in cable trays can be utilised. BIM allows this level of design and installation sequencing to be catered for and effectively communicated to the contractors.

“And it serves to reduce pricing risk, which contributes to improved cost control.”

One of the major challenges encountered by the NDY team came after construction had commenced on site.

In SAHMRI’s basement, a cyclotron facility – part of the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit – was prescribed. Its role is to produce commercial and investigational radio-pharmaceuticals such as radio-isotopes.

Although the requirement to incorporate this facility was known from the outset, the research spaces around it were not defined until after the SAHMRI building had been fully designed and construction had commenced.

“During the initial design of the building, spatial allocation was made for the future services requirements of the facility, prior to the exact requirements being known,” says Balales.

“The final design required multiple-zone air-handling units in order to maintain the required pressure differentials, as well as multiple radiation exhaust systems with high-efficiency radiation filtration running from the basement to roof level.”

He says the allocation of the perimeter services zone on the western side of the building provided the ability to incorporate these exhausts at a later stage of the design.

“The installation of the multiple exhaust systems needed very close coordination during the design phase and then into construction,” he says, “to ensure all systems could be incorporated into the pre-allocated space.”

Other challenges in the mechanical services design involved the requirement for close pressure control in what Davis describes as a “very dynamic environment”. Here, pressure variations can occur due to staff movement in and out of controlled spaces.

Pressure variations can also occur due to the operation of research equipment, such as fume cupboards.

He says pressure differentials, and hence pressure control, need to be maintained under all operating modes, including fire mode as well as during times of power outage.

It was important

that the public

could see into the

building and that

the researchers

could see out

A central stair in the east atrium entices researchers to walk between floors. On the expansive facade behind, solar shading is minimal to admit more sunlight and maximise views out as well as in from the city beyond. Image: Peter Clarke courtesy of Woods Bagot.

ECOLI B R I U M • DECE M B E R 201428

INCORPORATING HVACCreating a safe work environment was a paramount objective of the HVAC design.

Much focus was placed on the removal of harmful chemical vapours, particulates and biological aerosols that can be released in a laboratory environment, as well as safe operation in the event of a critical system failure.

Primary containment in SAHMRI labs has generally been achieved with the use of fume cupboards. Secondary containment has been provided by the negative pressure set-up in the PC2 (physical containment level 2) laboratory spaces relative to non-laboratory spaces.

Air distribution within the laboratory spaces is even, and designed to eliminate drafts that impact on fume cupboard operation. All air from laboratory spaces is exhausted to the exterior once heat recovery has been implemented.

“One of the key objectives [in PC2 labs] is to maintain design conditions in the laboratories irrespective of the number of fume cupboards being operated at any one time,” says Davis.

“Supply air into the laboratory needs

to be finely controlled to ensure that a

balance is achieved between supply and

exhaust airflows, and that throughout any

dynamic phase of adjustment, the slightly

negative pressure in the laboratory areas

is maintained at all times.”

According to NDY’s Balales, such

requirements led NDY to use variable-air-

flow (VAV) venturi valves on the air-

distribution system. These eliminate the

need to use separate dampers to control

air to the laboratory spaces.

It is believed venturi valves are being used

to a greater extent at SAHMRI than any

other laboratory in South Australia.

Also included as part of SAHMRI’s

broader HVAC design was the

incorporation of heat-recovery units on

exhaust air, as well as high-efficiency variable-air-flow (VAF) fans and variable-speed drive (VSD) control on all pumps and fans.

SAHMRI has also been configured as an “intelligent” building, with all systems and services connected over an integrated IP network allowing for real-time measurement of operational measures.

Balales says a highly integrated control system configured as an intelligent building system has been incorporated. It provides monitoring and control of the HVAC systems in order to optimise operation and minimise energy use.

All systems serving critical (clean) operational areas have been designed such that maintenance and repairs can be undertaken without tradespersons entering the clean laboratory spaces. This is achieved through interstitial plant spaces, with maintenance access being created above the Biosciences Laboratory and the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit.

HIGH LEVELS OF OUTSIDE AIRThe efficiency of the HVAC system is enhanced by the introduction of high levels of outdoor air to all non-critical spaces within SAHMRI.

As the architecture is “lifted”, creating the illusion of levitation, an underbelly exists around the perimeter of the building. Outside air is drawn into this space at a low level at the underside of the overhanging façade where it is pre-cooled.

Researchers maintain views from closed labs across open write-up zones and out the facade to the park and city. Image: Trevor Mein courtesy of Woods Bagot.

The architect was

an integral part of

the BIM process.

They provided us

with a parametric

model of the

building from

the outset

Bridges link the two halves of the building and separate the west entry atrium from the east atrium for researchers. Image: Trevor Mein courtesy of Woods Bagot.

ECOLI B R I U M • DECE M B E R 201430

C O V E R F E A T U R E

Further pre-cooling is achieved by the

vegetation within the public plaza garden

in each atrium.

To counter heat gain on the western

façade of the building, an external

interstitial space, which is accessible

at each level for maintenance, acts

as a thermal buffer.

Davis says this space also facilitates

a higher level of flexibility. For

example, the design provides for

the capacity to add an extra fume

cupboard or extract duct without

impacting on the spaces above the

laboratory being modified.

And of course the use of heat-recovery

units minimises energy loss.

Davis says an initial design energy model,

developed to provide energy targets for

the major HVAC equipment, was critical

to SAHMRI achieving Gold LEED status.

“During construction,” Davis says, “the

equipment selections of the contractor

were reviewed and compared against

the energy model to ensure the required

target for LEED Gold was being

achieved.”

SAHMRI opened its doors in December

2013, and is now on track to achieve

a Gold LEED rating for construction

– quite an achievement for a building

of this size, scale and complexity.

And with it, a new page in Adelaide’s

history has been written. z

PROJECT AT A GLANCE

THE PERSONNEL

Architect: Woods Bagot

Builder:

Hindmarsh Construction

Client: SAHMRI

Environmental design

consultant: Atelier Ten

ESD: Cundall

Mechanical services engineer:

Norman Disney & Young (NDY)

Structural and electrical

engineer: Aurecon

Lounge areas and connecting stair in the east atrium. Image: Peter Clarke courtesy of Woods Bagot.