 | SYSTEM + METAPHOR RMIT’s Biosciences Building brings John Wardle’s metaphoric, deinstitutional approach
together with the systemised thinking of DesignInc Melbourne. Review by Rob McBride.
Photography by Trevor Mein
| Review |
The RMIT Biosciences Building is a linear facility containing laboratories and
administration areas. The building’s orientation and position was determined by the
campus masterplan and, as a consequence, its longitudinal axis runs north-south,
cutting across the natural contours of the Bundoora site. The main entry, at the narrow
southern end, coincides with the crest of the landform and with the paved courtyard that
is the heart of the Bundoora campus.
The more I thought about the project, the more I was struck by the similarities to the
work of James Stirling. I am thinking here of Stirling’s early campus-type buildings, not
the later ones (masonry-clad with internalised circulation), but those of the of the late
1960s. These were primarily glazed, with structure, or implied structure, overlaid on the
glass skin, and with the circulation similarly glazed and externalised. This work came
from a time when “system thinking” dominated British architectural discourse. Stirling
was party to this school of thought, but never partisan. His sense of the history of
architecture and of architectural language, his sense of the promenade, and perhaps
even of the picturesque, was overlaid on and meshed with the functional diagram of
system thinking, making his buildings humane edifices.
Like Stirling’s sixties work, the form of the Biosciences Building clearly expresses its
functional layout. Large light towers and service pods separate three discrete laboratory
zones, while an overriding order of dramatic stainless steel flues marches across the
whole. Like Stirling’s work, the building would make a handsome axonometric drawing.
The long east and west facades are sheer, made mainly of glass and overlaid with
“T”-shaped sunshades. In this aspect, the building contrasts with its recently
constructed neighbour – Wood Marsh’s curved monolith with punctuated openings and
startling orange facade. The “T” motifs read as a remnant of brutalist architectural
language. Hung uncertainly from the building, the sunshades are precast concrete on
the upper level and, on the lower one, black metal. Elsewhere, the “T” motif variously
becomes an image etched into the glass, a mesh pergola, and recycled red gum forms.
Positioned to mark the passage of lines drawn between ancient eucalyptus trees on
either side of the new building, these timber “T”s seem to float magically. At first I was
uncertain about the leitmotif – I thought of Perth’s Council House and wondered if the
gesture was too insipid. Yet, the more I looked, the more I enjoyed the building’s pop
overtones, its light graphic and decorative quality, and what it seemed to say about the
monolithic institution.
The architects were concerned that such a long building would become a physical
and psychological barrier in the campus. Their desire to cut swathes of landscape
through the building was quelled by the reality of the functional brief. This desire,
however, has left its mark in the light towers and monitors. The long facades are torn to
reveal these glass towers, leaving half a “T” hanging precariously either side. The towers
imply a sort of functional derivation, yet the angles of the glazing are entirely
atmospheric and metaphoric. Reflecting the sky and the land, they imagine the
unrelenting institutional facade as disrupted by the passage of the landscape. At night,
these monitors become light beacons with the internal sculptured ceilings ghosting
behind translucent glass.
These facades attempt to transform the reading of the institution. The building
reads as a building in a state of flux, existing somewhere between what it was and what
it could become. To the west, in well shaded locations, the “T” is stripped away. Modified
only by interspersed vertical fins and upper horizontal shading, a sleek corporate facade
is revealed – another manifestation of institutional transformation.
The entrance facade is a node of intensity rendered at an intimate scale. It refuses
to engage with its heavier, more sober neighbours, which, as a group, define the campus
courtyard. Squeezed between the ribbon aluminium wall and the oblique glazed wall, the passage and direction of entry is clear. Yet, the language of the assembled forms is
ambiguous and intriguing. It appears as an overly elaborate annex or perhaps a sci-fi
installation. In part, this represents a scaling down and domestication of the institution, a
stategy that can be understood in terms of Peter Corrigan’s early institutional work. To
the left of the main entry, the glass wall signals an alternative route, directing circulation
to the lower landscaped area. In a somewhat self-assured act, the glazing on this wall is
raked to reflect the new courtyard landscape and the sky, thereby excluding the
reflections of neighbouring buildings.
As I approached this building from the carpark, its entrance visible through the
landscaping and beyond the main courtyard, I first thought of Stirling. The similarities
with Stirling’s residential expansion for St Andrews University seemed particularly
interesting. At St Andrews the elongated campus building is also positioned on the crest
of a rise, and, like the Biosciences Building, it presents an intimately scaled entry point.
St Andrews also has a central spine, a glazed promenade and what Stirling referred to
as a major area of sociability. This sense of promenade is evident in almost all of
Stirling’s work and, as an approach, it contrasts with many campus buildings where the
circulation is predominantly internalised and disconnected from the campus. The
architects of the Biosciences project say they designed the building from the inside out –
an inversion of the apparent method adopted by surrounding buildings. The corridor, the
space that is often the most denuded of architectural investment, has become the focus
of their attention.
The building’s internal symmetry is disrupted by placing the raked glass wall slightly
askew, while the translucent polycarbonate ceiling gives the corridor a lightness it would
not otherwise have. Narrow slot windows, cut into the corridor walls, provide views into
the laboratories and over the vast grounds of the campus beyond: deep within the
building occupants are continually reminded of their position in relation to the rest of the
campus. “Event spaces” are located along the corridor, within the light towers. The
central space houses a sculptural staircase, while, at either end, fantastic fibreglass-clad
circular concrete platforms are suspended beneath the sculpted plasterboard ceiling.
These “events” are eddies in the promenade experience, loci of sociability and rest. They
are places for the scientists and students to relax, to eat, to stumble upon ideas, to enjoy
views to the campus grounds, and to contemplate the denudation of the ancient
landscape through technological and societal progress. Ambitious spaces, they possibly
aspire to determine behaviour. They make this building important, yet they were absent
from the project brief.
Not unexpectedly, this building displays John Wardle’s architectural dexterity and
virtuoso skill. Externally there are experimental, sensual combinations of materials,
cantilevers, and clever minimal detailing. Internally, the over-elaborate sign boards and,
particularly, the sculptural coffered ceilings of the event spaces are examples of Wardle’s
deft formal manipulations. These shapes and gestures may have precedents in a range
of modern architectures, but Wardle continues to develop his own sumptuous signature.
However, it is my speculation that this building might not have been possible
without the conjoining of these two particular firms. The association seems to have been
a symbiotic one, with each informing the other. The project overlays the systematised
thinking of DesignInc Melbourne (a firm that was doing institutional buildings when
system thinking was popular) with the language, the deinstitutionalised thinking and
metaphoric impulses of John Wardle. The resulting building brings quality to the campus
experience, but it also speculates on the role of the institution and the nature of
institutional edifices. It ponders the remnants of a beautiful landscape; what has been
lost and what can be recovered.
Rob McBride is a principal of McBride Charles Ryan
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The sculptural forms of the event space revealed
through the light tower.
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The eastern facade from the north,
showing one of the three “event spaces” which
punctuate the long, linear building.
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View of
the the modulated eastern facade from the
south.
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Concept plan.
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Precast concrete “T”-shaped sunshades hang from the top of the building.
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Blackened steel “T”s at ground level, interspersed with recycled redgum
versions marking the paths of ancient trees passing through the building.
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The
stainless steel flues are spaced along the length
of the building according to a quadratic formula
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The “T” motif etched into the glass facade of the postgraduate reseach space.
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Perspective of the building’s
north end.
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Looking towards the main entry on the first floor at the building’s southern end.
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The glazed wall, to the west of the main entry, is raked to reflect sky and garden and to exclude
reflections of the adjacent building.
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The “T”-shaped mesh pergola in front of the first light monitor.
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Suspended
seating node in an “event space”, seen from the first floor bridge.
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Laboratory.
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The sculptural staircase housed in one of the
light monitors.
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| Project credits |
RMIT Biosciences Building,
Bundoora Campus
Architects John Wardle Architects and DesignInc
Melbourne in association—project team John
Wardle, Stefan Mee, John Loftus-Hills, John
Williams, Christon Smith, Beatrix Rowe, Fiona
Dunin, David Andrew, Frank Kruize. Structural
Engineer Connell Mott MacDonald. Mechanical and
Electrical Engineer Umow Lai and Associates.
Quantity Surveyor Padgham & Partners. Builder
Baulderstone Hornibrook. Landscape Designer
Chris Dance Land Design. Client RMIT University
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