Description

Professor Andrew Vann, CSU Vice-Chancellor and President describes the building as “Providing a space where applied and fundamental researchers can be innovative and ultimately produce science for the benefit of Australia, particularly in agriculture”.

To this end the building plays a pivotal role in reshaping the campus’s Science Precinct. The National Life Sciences Hub (NaLSH) is a teaching and research facility for the life sciences at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. The NaLSH is the first built project from the Science Precinct masterplan developed by BVN. NaLSH provides a hub for research and education in plant and animal sciences, food production and security, animal health, and water and environmental sciences. The building is designed to link students, academics, researchers and technical staff both within the University and externally with industry.

By diverting a divisive central road to the eastern edge of the precinct, the NaLSH is situated to enclose and terminate a new landscaped avenue, which connects many of the existing buildings and encourages a culture of pedestrian activity.

New facilities associated with the project include teaching labs, research labs (PC2 and Quarantine), two glasshouses, a phytotron head house and shared support facilities including office space for researchers.

At the building’s entry, the roof is raised to form a verandah, which provides significant value to campus culture as a welcoming entry point and principal gathering space for researchers and students.

The NaLSH is designed to reflect its locality with the use of red recycled clay brickwork, distinctive to construction in the Wagga Wagga region.