Traditional Land Owners: The Ngunnawal people

We took a sensitive approach to revitalising the former Research School of Chemistry Building (1968) on the ANU campus, preserving and modernising it for the next generation of laboratory leaders. The modernist bones and characteristic façade of the original were preserved and contemporary technologies carefully inserted to deliver world-class learning capabilities for the engineers. The new rooftop plant room supports our top-down approach, supplying intensive high-level services without diminishing the heritage-significant architecture.

We injected sunlight, views, and a collegiate sensibility into the interior, keeping coffered floor slabs intact and carefully positioning services to bring focus to the modernist building frame and façade. The original precast skin is now thermally sealed without affecting the integrity of its modernist expression. The refurbished staircase sets the scene for chance encounters and impromptu collaborations. New windows into laboratories frame the goings-on inside, giving passers-by a rare glimpse into the world of engineering and cybernetics.