Kolling Building, Sydney, Australia

New Kolling Research Building opens
The new $92m Kolling Building, designed by HASSELL, is the first project to be completed in the redevelopment of the entire Royal North Shore Hospital Campus.

The building which currently houses 350 researchers, education and animal house activities will eventually accommodate 500 researchers. It is well connected to the new main hospital building, allowing easy flow from the acute care area to the research area for the many staff members engaged in active clinical research.

The new facility relocates medical research scientists, clinicians and educators from over twenty buildings spread across the campus into an integrated, shared facility. The Kolling Building, named in recognition of the hospital’s prestigious Kolling Institute of Medical Research, has its own architectural identity and discrete presence on site. Located at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), the Institute was founded in 1931. It is one of the longest-established medical research institutes in Australia and is the main centre for biomedical research at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, representing the discipline of Molecular Medicine within the University of Sydney.

The facility provides four floors of education space, seven floors of laboratories and a basement housing a large and a small animal house, including a small animal breeding facility. The small animal house and breeding facilities are certified to Physical Containment Level 2 (PC2) and incorporate a 70m² Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service certified quarantine zone.

The building is clad in a proprietary terracotta façade system, in three differing shades, which adds colour and texture to the full height of the eastern and western facades, of the building, dramatically ‘book ending’ the twelve storey structure. Terracotta was chosen specifically because it is reminiscent of the brickwork that the original hospital was built from

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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