A place of serious science, but also of innovation and invention, The Biovac Centre has been credited as ‘prescient of the creative ‘infection’ that is coming in South African architecture’, offering opportunity for playful invention. We were challenged by a tight budget, but this did not deter us from creating one of the most memorable façade skins in South African architecture in recent years. introThe Biovac vaccine laboratory in Ndabeni, Cape Town, is a place of serious science, but also of innovation and invention. The brief calls for a lab block with a small office component taking advantage of views west. The clinical QC laboratory has to comply with stringent international standards to accredit Biovac the right to manufacture and test Vaccines in SA. rationaleThe building, with its central double volume, mediates between the admin wing and the lab, tying disparate working groups together. The simple layout of laboratory and offices with sun control skin is elevated to allow for a future lab. Windows are cut into the laboratory wherever required. The sunscreens are incredibly simply put together, being glued to a rudimentary galvanized steel frame using double-sided tape. This inventiveness in the face of economy and budgets is also evident in red perspex pendant lights.