Bold, original, and non-institutional were the objectives behind the Billard Leece Partnership’s design of the 17,200-square-foot Nexus Wallan GP SuperClinic in Australia’s Wallan township.
For the clinic’s raked glue-laminated (glulam) timber fins and cladding, the Melbourne-based firm selected white cypress, a native species favored for its durability and natural resistance to pests.
Australia’s building codes mandate that 80 percent of a structure’s north, south, and east façades are shaded at the height of solar exposure. The fins’ dimensions were tweaked to maximize shading and minimize heat-load. Final lengths range from 20 feet to 31 feet; depths vary between 11.8 inches and 23.6 inches.
“At the end of the day,” says project architect Daniel Rafter, “we were able to exceed the requirements by working with the achievable depths available in the glue-laminated products.”
