Australian Wildlife Hospital
Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors, Beerwah, QLD
With a complex program intertwining public and private, healthcare and education, the veterinary hospital is a focus for the conservation work of the Wildlife Warriors charity. The hospital was conceived as an expression of ecologically sustainable design with the intention to inspire and educate the public in sustainable building issues and practices. Doing so exposes them to the larger issues of conservation, land-use and biodiversity.
Light, air, and movement are the catalysts for a dynamic plan which balances the intimate needs of the injured animals with the public education imperative.
Space and light are wrapped in a variety of non-toxic and low embodied energy materials including straw bale, rammed earth, bamboo, recycled flooring and ceilings, and low-VOC finishes. Daylighting, mixed-mode ventilation, water conservation and water harvesting contribute to the low life cycle cost and resource efficiency.
At 1450 m2 it is the largest and 'greenest' of its kind in the world.
I have spent some time at the new Australian Wildlife Hospital and really appreciate what WD Architects have done. Combining nature with clinical healthcare is helping to develop a new breed of leadership on the Sunshine Coast.
I hope this kind of architecture that brings the outside-inside gets more of a following in the years to come.
~ Iina Lohi, landscape architect and wildlife carer , 2010 ~
