This building was designed specifically to be the headquarters of Australia's largest
geoscience organization.
Geoscience Australia. Housing a wealth of information about the Australian continent
and our offshore area.
Providing geoscientific information and advice to government and the community to assist
with: Management of our natural resources and the
environment; The search for new mineral and petroleum provinces;
Planning for land use and regional development; And protecting our urban environments from
natural hazards.
The building has been designed to support the scientific research and analysis activities
which form the basis of the Australia-wide geoscience and spatial data that we provide
to,mineral and petroleum industries, primary
producers, all levels of government, environmental protection agencies, the telecommunications
industry, emergency services, border protection and law-enforcement agencies, map and satellite-image
distributors.
As befits the headquarters of a scientific organization, the building has also been designed
to feature ecologically sustainable development principles.
Look around, you will notice shapes and features that you would not expect to see in more traditional buildings
Each of these design features has a practical purpose -- and it starts one hundred metres
beneath your feet -- with the largest geothermal heat system in Australia.
More than two hundred geothermal heat pumps circulate water through three hundred and
fifty bore holes, using the constant seventeen degree temperature underground to heat and
cool the building, with almost twenty per cent greater efficiency than traditional systems.
Above ground, great attention has been paid to the use of natural light.
The building's orientation on the site makes maximum use of the sun, and skylights and
cowls on the curved roof bring the daylight inside, to all parts of the complex.
Light shelves are incorporated into the window systems, to maximize light transmission into
the building, and internal glass walls further improve the flow of natural light through
the building.
Artificial light is controlled by movement sensors which automatically switch off lights
when rooms are unoccupied.
Two linked buildings comprise Geoscience Australia's headquarters, built at a cost of more than
one hundred million dollars. Seventeen thousand cubic meters of concrete and one thousand
two hundred tones of structural steel were used in the buildings construction. The official
opening was in 1998.
About five hundred scientific, support and technical staff work in a range of areas
Including almost thirty specialized laboratories served by vital features, such as deionised
water and un-interruptible power supply.
These laboratories include the Sedimentology & Palaeontology Labs,
the Oil and Gas Geochemistry Labs, the Minerals Geochemistry Labs, and the Marine Lab.
Between them, the Main and Support buildings comprise about forty thousand
square metres of floor space and, in the design,
great attention was paid to the creation of a sympathetic workplace.
Glass walls and internal layout foster the idea
of a single organization, rather than a number
of "teams" that never interact.
And whole environments have been created
to add light, character and beauty.
The walkway between offices and laboratories
is known as The Street and features both natural
and street-style lighting.
One of the internal garden areas is known
as The Rainforest, where automatic sprinklers
ensure that the palms and ferns thrive.
The library houses the second internal garden area,
the Arid Courtyard, where water drips
onto palms and cycads.
Geoscience Australia is proud that its headquarters
has won national and international recognition for innovation
in building techniques and for the use of
ecologically sustainable principles.
Look around: what we do as an
organization is of huge national and international
importance -- and we think that where
we do it is also pretty interesting.