The research center is dedicated to one of Australia's oldest universities, La Trobe, and is built on its Bundoora campus. It was originally conceived as a complex in which scientific work will organically coexist with the educational process, therefore, the building with a total area of 27,000 m2 has enough student lecture halls, laboratories, and office premises.
The planning of the new center was based on the idea of a gradual acquaintance with molecular chemistry: the lower floors are intended for students of 1-3 courses, and the upper ones are for senior students, graduate students and young researchers. Accordingly, classrooms are concentrated on the first three floors of the building, the capacity of which may vary depending on the course taught, and the upper three levels are reserved for research laboratories, designed as open spaces. The area around the center is landscaped and landscaped in such a way that it can serve as an open-air auditorium - it is directly connected to the lecture halls of the first floor, so that only good weather is required for seminars outside.
In addition, the center includes several conference rooms, cafes and cozy areas for informal communication between students and teachers. And its architectural solution reminds of the research carried out there: the architects faced the facades of the six-story building with a honeycomb structure made of reinforced concrete, resembling a model of a molecule. Some of the honeycombs serve as windows, and on the main facade, some of them are pushed out of the body of the building like bay windows, thanks to which it acquires an additional dimension. These consoles are sheathed on the outside with wooden laths, and along the inner contour, they are highlighted with a color - blue, white or red, which is then used in the design of interiors.
A. M.
