GlassTalk – Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney was a sprawling 13 hectare campus containing more than 50 disparate facilities, many dating from the early 20th century.
NSW Largest Health Capital Works Program
A major $950 million redevelopment of the precinct is symbolic of a generational shift in styles and attitude towards health-care. The new Kolling Building, accommodating the clinical education and research functions of the campus, stands in contrast to older building styles, wrapped in Viridian ComfortPlus and EnviroShield high-performance glazing. The new building delivers a dynamic and sparkling amenity, together with exemplary energy performance.
Glass Considerations
The choice of contemporary high-performance glass allowed the architect – Hassell Ltd – to deal with solar loadings while maintaining high levels of comfort, amenity and operational efficiency. Creating a light-filled design that fully addressed the site and environmental conditions.
Chris Learmonth, senior project engineer of Bovis LendLease, said “we knew what was needed and it was relatively easy to go through the Viridian technical specifications to establish just what options we had and what would be the highest performance and most economical glass available”. For example, on the southern elevation “we used full height louvres because the research facilities needed to avoid direct sunlight on laboratory benches”.
The resulting glazing envelope of the Kolling Building was generated out of an aesthetic desire to maximize both daylight penetration into the building and views out for occupants. Contemporary performance glass has allowed the Kolling Building and other precinct redevelopment projects to move away from the darker and more solemn styles of the past.