The Cairns Institute gives concrete expression to the James Cook University’s aim to become one of the world’s leading research universities in the tropics. As a repository of regional knowledge and research capacity, the institute will be perfectly positioned to make a significant contribution to the development of a sustainable quality of life for tropical communities.
A truly imaginative and integrated design solution that was distinctive and uniquely desirable to the university’s community was paramount. The design team had an opportunity to create a building that represented its place and its context in a new and exciting way which has resulted in the delivery of cutting edge design elements.
This project will be a research hub, housing specialists in the social sciences, humanities, law and business sectors to examine the issues of importance to people in the tropics. This award winning design will put the Cairns Institute and JCU on the international stage attracting post-graduate students from around the globe; and to enable the university to draw a high caliber of researchers.
The Cairns Institute once open will change the face of the university environment. This institute embodies the design of both a visually and technologically modern university whilst keeping true to its tropical context.
Woods Bagot along with RPA Architects wanted to create a design that reflected both the beautiful landscape of far North Queensland yet also kept with the brief of a university that met the highest of technological standards.
An evolving landscape skin, known as a ‘trellis’ that defines the building and encapsulates aesthetics and sun control, as well as a variety of micro climate ecologies around the building, that are suited to their function and orientation, are some of the design elements that have been proposed.
The facades and the internal spaces and functions can be viewed through the trellis. In places the internal elements project through the trellis, and there are holes in the trellis linking internal and external spaces with the landscape.
Furthermore, JCU is aspiring to have the building achieve an equivalent to, or higher than, a Greenstar 5 rating, and therefore it was paramount that the building be rich with ‘future adaptability’ potential.
At the heart of these elements is an underlying commitment by the consortium to not only complement the proposed institute’s current surroundings, but to also enable design to assist in minimising running costs whilst contributing to the quality of environment.
