The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) is a leading Australian medical research institute making breakthrough discoveries into some of the most serious diseases of our time.
The work of 11 research centres at WIMR focuses on five key themes: cancer, cardio-respiratory, infection and immunity, liver and metabolic, and neuroscience and vision. This ten-storey, state-of-the-art building is a key facility in the world-leading Westmead Health and Education Precinct.
The location of the building facilitates close collaboration with Westmead Hospital and other research organisations nearby.
The laboratories are linked by a central staircase that also connects offices, meeting rooms and communal spaces, allowing researchers to meet and work together. The atrium and open spaces provide visibility across floors, enabling people to feel part of the building’s research community.
Bringing natural light into the communal spaces and filtered light into the laboratories was a key component of the brief to encourage interaction and collaboration amongst scientists. Scientific research spaces that can accommodate natural light are unusual as external stimuli may affect experiments. This element required significant planning and collaboration with researchers to ensure the environments are both effective and scientifically sound. We designed the mechanical systems to support a modern ‘lifestyle’ interior office design.
In non-laboratory spaces, Arup engineered full-height glass windows to bring daylight inside, while the façade’s louvres block out heat and glare. Double-glazed windows improve energy efficiency and minimise noise, providing comfortable, light-filled spaces for work and recreation.
The building was designed in conjunction with the researchers to ensure it is both practical and an enjoyable space to work in.
Flexibility for the future
Arup brought an innovative solution to the client – a manifolded fume exhaust system – that would replace the (then) Australian Standard requirement for each fume cupboard to have its own exhaust duct and fan. The manifolded system exhausts vapours from the fume cupboards collectively, cutting operational costs such as the number of components, a reduction in the replacement of components, and the flexibility of moving fume cupboards or adjusting their quantity.
We worked with our global colleagues who have extensive experience with the standard international practice for manifolded systems, including operating examples in similar buildings around the world.
This experience, coupled with our willingness to certify the design as an alternative solution, gave the client confidence to adopt this system.