2013 National Architecture Awards: Public

Jury citation

The Kinghorn Cancer Centre is a calm, dignified facility that houses clinicians, clinical researchers and biomedical scientists. It is located in inner-city Darlinghurst and the exterior responds to the urban context of mixed residential and large institutions with a facade of various perforations and transparency, negotiating a variety of requirements for natural light, privacy and views. Gardens and circulation spaces are located in the space between the facade and the interior, ensuring that the building is not a blank spot on the urban fabric and that it works well with the patchwork of open and walled gardens around the area.

Internally, the design uses an atrium as the prime circulation and collaborative space. Warm, sunny, calm and intimate, this is a successful space. The energetic splashes and markings of the Richard Long artwork on the rear wall provide a perfect counterpoint to the calm rectilinearity of the architecture. Natural light and views are provided throughout, and gardens and terraces are provided at various levels, giving a calm and healing ambience.

Details are refined and considered; the palette calm and peaceful. This project is an excellent, considered building that offers much to those who use it and to all who encounter it.

Read the project review by Michael Keniger in Architecture Australia.