Chemical Sciences Building

Laboratories

The Chemical Sciences Building at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) comprises 2 levels of shared specialist instrumentation and analysis laboratories and 3 levels to accommodate the research and teaching laboratories of the School of Chemistry. The building was designed as a low-rise building with floorplates designed specifically as flexible and adaptable ‘laboratory modules’ to provide maximum long-term benefit to the University. For the shared specialist instrumentation component (basement and ground), the building provides quality research space in a new shared building on the Lower Campus of UNSW, fully utilise existing equipment to work to their specification (both technical and scientific), enable the expansion of the EMU (Electron Microscope Unit), consolidate the NMR facility (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and provide new shared space for nanotechnology courses.

A showcase for materials research

The Chemical Sciences Building is a new focal point and showcase for UNSW’s material sciences research capability and accommodates a contemporary School of Chemistry. Significant items of new and existing scientific instrumentation are housed within the facility, providing a new shared resource for the development and promotion of the University’s science-based schools and research groups. The key architectural concepts are: flexibility, with laboratory spaces as adaptable modules that can change or scale according to demand; transparency, with openness of building function through varying levels of transparency in facade and interior design, to both occupants and the public domain; and interaction, encouraging occupant interaction through generous building circulation, social hubs, meeting rooms, oversized stairs and interconnecting labs.

The School of Chemistry

For the School of Chemistry component (Levels 1 to 3), the building reorganised the functional units of the School to vastly improve space utilisation and relationships, ensure all laboratories meet current Australian Standards and BCA, provides new opportunities for research and staff interaction and collaboration, enable flexibility in the planning layout and use of the laboratories, and establishes a clear identity for the School.