New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/02C | Page 39

Left:The coloured blades on the
exterior of the upper floors of the
workplace building are positioned
towards the top of the windows
for shading, leaving the lower
section of the windows open to
views.
Left, lower:Kitchenettes,
amenities and casual meeting
areas are dotted around the
atrium.
Section and ground floor
plan:1 Entry/reception, 2 Office
workplace, 3 Cafe, 4 Circulation
atrium, 5 Link atrium, 6 PC2
Research laboratory, 7 Plant
room, 8 Smoke exhaust, 9
Thermal chimney
authorities to enable us to do that because we
thought it really important for people to see the
movement of researchers up and down the stairs.”
It was also important that the building embodied
the ESD role within CSIRO.
The most visible manifestation of this are the two
black thermal chimneys above the main atrium,
which allow the building to be naturally ventilated.
Windows and louvres are linked into the building
management system and open up in the right con-
ditions. And as the chimneys heat up, they will then
draw air through the building.
Ashton says the overall design of the building
helped enable the transformational change CSIRO
wanted to implement.
“They came from an environment with a lot of
silos hidden away,” he says. “We turned that on its
head so the science became highly visible, while
at the same time making sure the building worked
really well as a research space.”
Architecture/Interior BVN
Landscape designer ASPECT Studios
Project manager RPS Project Management
Construction manager/builder Laing O’Rourke
Structural/façade engineer Taylor Thomson Whitting
Mechanical/ESD Steensen Varming (Aust)
Civil/traffic/electrical/security/comms/acoustic/fire
Aurecon
Hydraulic THCS
BCA/fire engineering AE&D
Accessibility Eric Martin & Associates
FF&E RGC Consulting Pty Ltd
Story by Paul Taylor
Photography by John Gollings
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249339135 at Trendsideas.com
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bvn at Trendsideas.com
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