New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 30/12 | Page 30

Project
Harry Perkins Institute for Medical
Research (North)

Location:
Nedlands, Western Australia

Architect:
Hames Sharley

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Close analysis of the needs of scientific researchers has questioned longstanding
workplace conventions in the design of this award-winning research institute

Medical research in Australia has never had a
prominent public face, despite its enormous value
and the breakthrough discoveries that have made
the country a leader in the field.
All that is changing, however, thanks to a new
facility in Perth. The Harry Perkins Institute for
Medical Research (North), designed by Hames
Sharley, has taken scientific research out of the
back room and brought it into the spotlight.
Hames Sharley director James Edwards says
every aspect of the building design was influenced
by the nature of the creative research activities and
investigations within.
“Medical research is given visual expression at
many different levels, both in the fabric of the building and in the visual display of ideas,” Edwards
says. “The exterior palette of materials is comparable to the skin of the human body – the eyes, skin

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and hair colours all come from a subtle warm
palette, which is what we have created on the exterior of the building. The west elevation, for example,
features brown anodised aluminium with a custom
profile that gives the facade a craft-like feel. This
elevation has no windows to avoid heat gain from
the sun.”
While double-skinned glass features on other
elevations, some areas are clad in precast concrete
with slot windows, which define the nature of the
light-controlled laboratories within.
The 10-storey building was also designed to
reference the 1950s post-war international style
of the adjacent Perth Chest Hospital and Nurses’
Quarters. Principal access routes and visual links
through the site are maintained, and there are
attractive landscaped areas with seating and
shade trees.