bolt-on winch-assist unit that can easily be removed from the end of an excavator to allow the base machine to work without any hindrance between tethering operations, it immediately piqued his interest

NZ Timber The fence is

Story: Hayley Leibowitz

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP.

We are effectively taking down the fence that’s been around Scion for quite some time,” says Scion CEO, Dr Julian Elder, of the Crown Research Institute’s new building named Te Whare Nui o Tuteata. “It was a real eye opener to me to come to Scion and learn all of the wonderful things that happen here. Now we are no longer an ‘invisible, secret, science establishment behind the trees’. The fence is coming down.” In collaboration with Irving Smith Architects, RTA Studio was commissioned to reimagine Scion’s Rotorua headquarters. The project allows the workforce from around the campus to collaborate in a central space which will be the new public face of Scion in the community. The design showcases timber use in commercial construction, with emphasis on the innovation and research reflecting the essence of Scion as an organisation.

Julian explains that the timing of the creation of the new building is crucial,

coming down

Scion’s new building, Te Whare Nui o Tuteata.

given that around the world, “we are taking significant steps to move away from a linear, petrochemical-based economy to a circular bioeconomy, which is what makes this building so important”.

“We talk about all the work we do here and our core purpose, to drive innovation and growth for the economic, environmental and social benefit of New Zealand. That means us helping others through our science, our research, our technology and taking up new state-of-theart or alternative ways of manufacturing products, as well as sustainable approaches in the environment. With Scion so involved with forestry, processing of wood and all the benefits and products we get from trees, it was high time to reflect that,” he adds.

With some 600 000 visitors a year to the Redwoods, Te Whare Nui o Tuteata incorporates a public cafe as well as an experience centre that will tell the complete forestry story. The name was gifted by

Above: Construction underway. Right: Developing the diagrid node connections and understanding their ability to withstand the load demands was critical to the success of the project. TimberLab worked with Dunning Thornton and Scion to manufacture test joints, allowing for proof testing of the diagrid nodes prior to finalising the design. Here the diagrid frame is shown in the testing rig.

Ngā Hapū e Toru who hold mana over the whenua.

“Our perspective is that the circular bioeconomy is the way the world is moving and that’s a huge opportunity for New Zealand. It fits our wheelhouse which is why showing our work is so important. This will feed back into all of the mechanisms that start to create the demand for this new future,” says Julian.

“Also exciting for us is that the innovation is centred in the regions. All of these activities will be close to trees. So it’s a really exciting opportunity for economic development of our regions and creation of new higher value jobs in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way. We would like to get to the stage where everyone thinks of products that are made in NZ are good for the planet and good for you. So that’s what we’re trying to do with this building,” he explains.

He points out that showcasing the science and technology and thinking about those opportunities is about bringing people along on the journey “so that they go ‘wow, we want buildings like this or we want a future that looks like that’”.

And that is certainly what Scion has achieved with this building.

“We really have taken every opportunity to showcase what’s possible with wood in this building, we wanted it to really speak to Scion and what’s possible for the future,” says Project Manager, Aoife Mac Sharry (pronounced eefa).

First of its kind

Visitors walk through the forestry canopy and are welcomed by a triple peak entry. The trio of ‘peaks’ in glulam timber, represent the three hapū of the land, standing proud and tall at the entrance. They then pass beneath these portals to a triple-height atrium where a curated exhibition of woodfibre technology and a café welcomes the public.

The dominant feature of the threestorey, 2000m2 building is the diagonal grid (diagrid) timber structure. Diagrids are an efficient way to provide strength and stiffness and require less material than traditional structures, says Aoife. As the only triple high timber diagrid in New Zealand, the building is believed to be a world first for a wooden diagrid structure of its size.

She adds that the central black plates were custom-designed by structural engineers Dunning Thornton, to absorb all the energy introduced to the building in the event of a seismic event. “When the earthquake is finished, we swap out that plate and we’ve got a structurally sound building again. No catastrophic collapse of the diagrid. I’m sure you’ll agree, for a country such as New Zealand that could prove useful,” she says.

The atrium works to support passive ventilation and the double skinned façade provides a stacked chimney effect, says Aoife. “Moving inside we’ve got the CLT suspended staircases. You can jump on the

landing and there’ll be no noise, there’ll be no shake, there’ll be nothing. That’s a massive feat of engineering. One run of steps is just shy of a tonne. The landing up there is 1.1 tonne. So that’s a hell of a lot of weight being supported by each post.

“The diagrid reduces the reliance on steelwork at points of connection so traditional steel and concrete become redundant,” she adds. The strength of the diagrid components was tested at Scion. An apex portion was subjected to 45 tonnes of downward pressure then pulled upward by a 31.5 tonne force. A node section, where diagrid components are integrated with a horizontal member, was subjected to 20 tonnes of compression to try to twist the horizontal component. All the pieces tested passed with flying colours, performing comfortably at even the maximum design loads the engineers had calculated.

Engineered timberoptions were chosen for construction for their physical properties, sustainability and environmental performance. The diagrid wall frames use glulam and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) technology; the floor beams and roof trusses have been manufactured from LVL. The floors, lift shaft panels, suspended staircases and meeting room bracing are made from cross laminated timber (CLT). The signature entry canopies utilise both CLT and glulam technology. The lift shaft is one of the few entirely wooden lift shafts in the world.

Fire resistance is well catered for in the building design too. The heavy timber members, like the LVL components, tend to char rather than catch alight. The charring rate is slow and predictable, and the layer of char acts as insulation, protecting the underlying timber.

The building contains 454m3 of structural wood, storing approximately 418 tonnes of CO2 emissions for the life of the building. This storage is equivalent to the emissions from 160 return flights from Auckland to London. New Zealand radiata pine forests can regrow this amount of wood in only 35 minutes.

“Although not designed as carbonnegative, choosing wood instead of alternative materials reduced greenhouse gas emissions and fossil-fuel consumption during the product manufacturing and building construction stages. This led to us being the unexpected owners of an embodied carbon-neutral building. This attribute allows Scion to ‘walk the talk’ of what’s possible,” explains Aoife.

The triple-height atrium leads up to a custom-designed wooden ceiling which is a Above, from left: Scion Chief Executive, Dr Julian Elder, Chair of Scion’s Board of Directors Dr Helen Andersen, and mana whenua representatives, Veronica Butterworth and Hokimate Kahukiwa, sign a document to formailse Ngā hapū e Toru gifting the name Te Whare Nui o Tuteata to Scion, for the new building. Below: The Eastwood cafe and seating. Right: Dr Julian Elder, in front of the CLT suspended staircases. Bottom: Inside the building is light, bright and airy.

nod to Scion’s work, inspired by the structure of the radiata pine genome, the assembly of which Scion was heavily involved in. Timber battens and plywood panels in subtle tones depict the barcoding effect from the plant DNA, while the arrangement of atrium ceiling lights represent the Matariki star cluster.

It’s not just about the wood

Looking upward from the atrium, the levels above provide more private, acoustically considered open-plan office and collaboration spaces.

A wrap-around coloured curtain wall clads the building in colours that reflect the forest canopy, acknowledging the cultural significance of the land. “Traditional tukutuku weaving inspired the double-skin façade with coloured glass moderating solar gains, while internally creating the effect of dappled light falling through a forest canopy,” explains Aoife.

The building is sustainably designed, with typical office heating and cooling needs significantly reduced. Developed for the local climate, the motorised doubleskin façade provides heat recovery in winter, with the coloured glazing panels and internal building cavity regulating thermal gains in summer. Other energy-saving features include natural ventilation, solar shading and LED lighting – all contributing to reducing plant and ongoing running costs.

“We used a lot of sustainable green products because it’s not just about the wood, it’s about the bioeconomy. Passive ventilation through the double skinned façade, LEDs, acoustic floor system with shredded up tyres in between the CLT… all help this space tell the history of forestry, the history of the land and what’s possible for the future,” says Aoife.

The exhibition space speaks to that, currently showcasing Scion science and research in three key areas: • Caring for our forests with the goal of healthy, resilient forests for all to enjoy. • Building the future from timber: Trees as the ultimate green technology storing carbon for decades or even centuries. • Creating tomorrow’s products:

Anything made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow.

Aoife continues: “Essentially the space we want to have is where anybody can come in and use it for brainstorming, hotdesking, an ideation space, a project space – open to our industry partners, we’re more than happy to have anybody here.”

Julian has the final word. “What we’re trying to build here is a collaborative campus. We want that to grow. We want a lot more interactions with our peers. This building is a very important step for us, to start making people aware of what can be done and what’s possible.”

Above: The ceiling represents the radiata pine genome and Matariki star cluster. Below: The exhibition space. Bottom: The enterior looking out through the main door.

Project partners: Architectural design: RTA Studio, Irving Smith; Structural engineering: Dunning Thornton; Engineered wood fabrication: TimberLab/Xlam; Construction: Watts & Hughes; Project managers: RDT Pacific; Exhibition design and installation: The Gibson Group. NZL