Plant research facility wins national architecture award

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 29 Oct, 19:39 · Archive

The $65 million Plant Futures Facility at the University of Queensland has won a national architecture award.

The Plant Futures Facility at the University of Queensland in Brisbane has won a national architecture award announced on Thursday night. The $65 million building is described as having no equivalent in Australia and houses laboratories and greenhouses for researching sustainable agriculture and how plants adapt to climate change.

The facility's high-tech rooms allow researchers to adjust temperature, humidity, light and carbon dioxide concentration to replicate growing conditions from the Gold Coast hinterlands to Far North Queensland. Michael Christensen from M3 Architecture, who helped design the building, explained that researchers initially requested a box with no windows so the interior environment could be precisely controlled. 'It's a bit of a weird brief for an architect, because it's the complete opposite to what you normally get,' Christensen said.

The architects departed from typical laboratory design by installing mirrored panels and coloured lighting in corridors, creating a changeable environment similar to what the plants in experiments would experience. The building's exterior is designed as a map of Queensland's geological soil profile, with bricks made from local clay. Other projects recognised at the 2026 national architecture awards were Sydney's new fish market, the city's Central Station and Melbourne's new Footscray Hospital.

How it is being reported

• Building for plants of the future wins national awardA research facility for plants that can deal with climate change is among the projects recognised at the 2026 national architecture awards.Perth Now · 29 Oct, 19:02
• Building for plants of the future wins national awardA research facility for plants that can deal with climate change is among the projects recognised at the 2026 national architecture awards.The West Australian · 29 Oct, 19:02

In this story: University of Queensland · Brisbane · M3 Architecture · Michael Christensen

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