The University of Otago Christchurch Campus Redevelopment Project is a new six-storey medical education and research building on Oxford Terrace in the heart of the health precinct.

The building houses a number of specialist functions from student learning spaces on the lower floors, to clinical spaces open to the public and highly specialised medical research and science laboratories.

"Progress on site is moving full steam ahead," says WAM Project Principal Hayley Fisher.

"The structure is rising rapidly, revealing the scale and complexity of this significant build.

“The extensive volume of reinforcing steel is particularly impressive. We've recently observed the installation of the upper steel work, a key milestone as the floors and overall structure take shape. We look forward to seeing the internal partitions start to define the internal layouts and watching the facades enclose the structure."

The new building will have four floors of laboratories, clinical research and teaching facilities, an imaging suite, a base for postgraduate nursing studies, and will house the departments of psychological medicine and pathology and biomedical science.

In plan, the building is two blocks arranged around a central atrium. The northern organic form overlooking the river provides space for the more human-centric social, meeting, learning and office functions.

“This project will enable the growth of our world-class health science research and education programmes happening on our Christchurch campus,” says Helen Nicholson, University of Otago Acting Vice-Chancellor.

The more rigid and engineered southern block provides highly serviced space for the more technical specialised functions. This co-location of similar function allows for efficiency of sharing of functions, simplifying security and optimising the services design.

The design has been developed with a strong underlying cultural narrative developed with Ngāi Tahu, with key themes of social wellness and the notion of balance/harmony within our environment. The building is being designed to achieve NZGBC 5 Star and is aligned with the University’s zero carbon strategy.

“We’re proud to be part of a collaborative team bringing this new facility for the University of Otago's Christchurch campus to life,” shares the practice.

Image: https://www.otago.ac.nz/christchurch/christchurch-campus-redevelopment

Clémence Carayol

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