VISION 50 — UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Architecture as imitation can quickly
dig itself a larger-than-life hole. Philip
Johnson’s AT&T Building as an overblown
Chippendale Chair cast a giant shadow
on an otherwise stellar legacy. Others,
including Frank Gehry’s Binocular Building
in LA are literal in the extreme. For many,
the Basket Building in Newark Ohio,
is little more than novelty basket-case.
Melbourne’s Harmer Architecture Bio Sciences Building
for Monash University runs the gauntlet of mimicry.
But rather than parody or ‘theme-scape’ of science
fiction on steroids, or caricature, Harmer’s design is
all subtlety and nuance.
Located in the protected native landscape Jock Marshall
Reserve, Harmer’s fan-shaped design is tightly calibrated
to setting and purpose.
Sparkling in the spring light, here science as art is
wrapped in a ribbon of Viridian EnergyTech™
performance glass punctuated with strategically placed
circular windows – eye-pieces to a magnified world.
The building forms a new gateway to the JMR Reserve
from College Walk, which accesses the Monash Halls of
Residence. The main internal space is a laboratory for
collaborative environmental study into the science of
plants and animals.
The laboratory collaborative learning area is divisible into
two spaces each for 52 students and the external
balcony/deck provides a long bench for sorting and
washing of samples collected in field-work.
The eyepiece entry tube forms the gateway to the reserve
and stimulates curiosity in visitors to discover what can
be investigated in this unique natural environment.
PROJECT
Monash University Biological
Sciences Laboratory, Victoria
ARCHITECT
Harmer Architecture
PRINCIPAL GLAZING
Viridian EnergyTech™ Clear
TEXT, IMAGES & FILM
Peter & Jenny Hyatt