Design bridges science and art

Building helps showcase the Synchrotron, writes Stephen Crafti.

The National Centre for Synchrotron Research Design by architects Bates Smart.

THE Australian Synchrotron in Blackburn Road, Clayton, was not designed for the general public. The circular building was purpose built as a research complex for scientists, both local and international. But the latest building, by Bates Smart, the National Centre for Synchrotron Science, bridges the gap between science and the wider community.

"This building was designed to showcase the research that's being done at the Synchrotron. It's part gallery/museum. It also includes a lecture theatre and administrative facilities that aren't available in the Australian Synchrotron," says Architect Kristen Whittle, a director of Bates Smart.

"Our brief was to create a gateway building to the Synchrotron, a strong signal for those driving along Blackburn Road."

'This building was designed to showcase the research that's being done at the Synchotron': Kristen Whittle. 

In contrast to the Australian Synchrotron, which is curvaceous and clad in steel, the Bates Smart design is rectangular and luminous. Completely clad in polycarbonate panels (each 500 millimetres wide by 10.5 metres in height), the National Centre for Synchrotron Science conceals a concrete shell.

Between the concrete and polycarbonate panels is a gap of approximately 600 millimetres, which allows purple fluorescent light to emit a range of purple hues at night.

During the day, the panels have a pink/green hue, as they were finished in a special paint.

 "The choice of purple was driven by this colour in the sky, at both dawn and dusk, when there's a change from day to night and vice versa," says Whittle. "The building is about light and how the properties, as well as the colour, can be magical."

The lecture theatre is illuminated by customised circular neon lighting on the ceiling. 

While the Bates Smart design appears windowless from the street, the blurred outlines of windows become clearer as one approaches the entrance. Large picture windows within the concrete walls are discretely positioned in conference rooms and meeting areas, while still creating that veil of mystery.

"We wanted the design to be quite ethereal, something that draws you in, that makes you slightly curious," says Whittle.

Past the entrance, there's a 50-metre long corridor with a ceiling height of three metres.

Bates Smart compressed this gallery-like space, with white walls and concrete floors. Including reception area and a pre-function space, this gallery acts as breathing space before a double height space is revealed.
"The interior is deliberately restrained. We wanted to explore the essential qualities of light," says Whittle.

The quality of light in the building is brilliantly demonstrated by feature walls that encase the 350-seat lecture theatre. The laminated acrylic panels which make up these walls are covered in a unique film that provides a translucent glow. Dubbed the ''light wall'', it's as much an art piece as a functional device.

One of the most impressive spaces in the building is the lecture theatre. Featuring felt covered walls and ceiling, the raked seating is illuminated by customised circular neon lighting on the ceiling.

"This building is about light, how it moves, as well as how it reacts with the felt," says Whittle.

The National Centre for Synchrotron Science does make an impact on busy Blackburn Road. But in contrast to the exterior, the interior is highly restrained, allowing the qualities of light to create a series of wonderful experiences, for school groups, the general public or those using the building on a daily basis. "The design is also about bridging science and art," says Whittle.