The design concept for the Cairns Institute grew from its mission statement ‘enhancing life in the tropics’, and is strongly centred on the belief of architecture as place-making, rather than building-making.
The Institute is sensitively located in the landscape, and a sense of the landscape is embedded in the experience of the place. The main entry aligns with the natural forms of the mountain range to the west, and integrates intimate landscape experiences in the surrounding and courtyard gardens.
The design is responsive and empathetic to the idea of community; in this instance a community of researchers. Traditional and indigenous approaches to place-making engage this community through the arrangement of research hubs and other spaces around a shared space of a central courtyard.
This heightens awareness and visibility, while promoting both purposeful and incidental interaction. The concept enhances the Institute’s culture and allows its research to develop in a healthy, positive and collaborative manner.
[One of five proposals shortlisted in the Cairns Institute Invited Design Competition.]
