UTAS Glass House

The PC2/QC2 facility required rigorous attention to detail to achieve certification. Due to the nature of the facility, finishes throughout the internal spaces have been considered to ensure that all surfaces were robust and easy to clean so that research material (genetically modified organisms) could not sit and gather. Benches and moveable plant trolleys were designed to enable equipment to be washed down and easily moved around the space. Consideration of silicone/material types was required to ensure the phthalate used did not affect the life cycle of the plants.

The building is a unique, highly technical research facility that required the coordination of a large number of specialist consultants. The form of the building enabled a bulkhead to run along the length of the corridor space to conceal servicing and limit the number of penetrations into the PC2/QC2 space. Positive air pressures are maintained with air locks incorporated to ensure the materials within a physically maintained.

The existing infrastructure onsite was cramped and in poor condition and laboratories were located some distance away from the existing glasshouse. General access and DDA access around the site were also a problem. The new works were to overcome these access issues without adding to the existing spatial inadequacies of the site. Following a spatial analysis of the site, a new location for the project was proposed. The facility would instead be located atop a roof deck on a building within the Life Sciences Precinct. This would place the glasshouse facility adjacent a newly constructed PC2 lab.

The new location ensured a larger and more flexible greenhouse facility could be achieved with access to the new state of the art lab and good circulation paths between both academic and work spaces. The proposal also overcame long time water ingress issues from the roof deck into the spaces below.

The glasshouse sits on the western side of the building and significant solar modelling and analysis was undertaken during the design process. The form of the building is simple and maximises light and volume in the space.

A simple, modulated super structure was proposed and arrayed along the building - enabling the structure to have a fineness and allowed for the glazing to be easily integrated. The sizing of structure and glazing adaptors were considered in the design and documentation process to enable neat cleanable surfaces within and to maintain the project budget parameters.