Location: High Street & Botany Street, Randwick, NSW
Scope: Comprehensive façade development, integrating innovative safety and design features.
Completion Year: 2024
Architect: Architectus
Builder/Contractor: Hansen Yuncken
Façade Consultant: Acor Consultants Pty Ltd
ShapeShift Product: ShapeShell™-RC advanced Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GRC) façade panels
The UNSW Health Translation Hub (HTH) aims to deliver a state-of-the-art facility that unites health education, clinical training, and medical research in a single location, directly connecting with acute healthcare services at the Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct. The project’s vision is to improve health outcomes by co-locating researchers, clinicians, students, and industry partners to enable collaboration across disciplines and deliver real-world patient benefits.
The mission of the UNSW Health Translation Hub (HTH) is to establish a world-class facility that brings together researchers, educators, clinicians, and industry partners to accelerate the translation of medical research into real-world health outcomes. Designed as an integrated space for health education, clinical training, and translational research, the HTH aims to strengthen partnerships between the university and the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct. Beyond its internal functions, the project aspires to deliver a highly accessible public precinct, featuring landscaped plazas and pedestrian connections that foster community engagement. By achieving architectural, environmental, and operational excellence, the UNSW HTH will serve as a catalyst for future-focused health innovation, benefiting the broader NSW community.
Delivering the UNSW Health Translation Hub required addressing a combination of technical, architectural, and logistical challenges. One of the primary challenges was meeting the demanding aesthetic and performance expectations for the external façade, particularly the complex GRC solar hoods and spandrel panels with sculptural fluting.
Maintaining batch-to-batch colour consistency across more than 7,200 m² of façade panels proved critical to achieving a seamless visual outcome. In addition, the façade system needed to integrate multiple performance requirements, including thermal efficiency, acoustic control, durability, and fire compliance, while accommodating movement joints, structural tolerances, and maintenance access.
Working within the congested healthcare precinct, with strict working hours and pedestrian safety constraints, further added to the complexity of fabrication, delivery, and installation. These factors required collaborative engineering, material innovation, and precise execution to meet the project’s high standards.
The application of the product and work is described as follows:
Primary System:
ShapeShell™-RC (Glass Reinforced Concrete – GRC) Façade Cladding
Architectural Elements Covered:
Fluted Panels – featuring either off-form or light acid wash finishes.
Flat Panels – also offered in different finish options for cost and aesthetic alignment.
High-Performance Façade Elements – durable, impact-resistant, and environmentally safer with an option for silica-free Green GRC.
Functional Use:
External Façade Cladding of UNSW Health Translation Hub.
Provides architectural texture and depth through fluted geometry.
Delivers a durable and sustainable skin for the building envelope.
Allows visual consistency through sample batch testing.
Supports installation efficiency with engineered attachment systems.
Finish Options Provided for Consideration:
Off-Form Finish:
Smooth, moulded surface resembling precast concrete.
Light Acid Wash Finish:
Textured surface with reduced reflectivity and visible depth.
ShapeShift Technologies played a key role in realising the architectural vision of the UNSW Health Translation Hub by supplying advanced ShapeShell™-RC Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) façade systems.
Working closely with the façade consultant and builder, ShapeShift provided design input, prototyping, and batch sample testing to help resolve critical challenges such as surface finish selection and colour consistency for the project’s signature fluted solar hoods and spandrel panels.
ShapeShift’s vertically integrated design-to-manufacturing process, supported by large-scale CNC tooling and rigorous quality assurance, ensured the production of lightweight, high-strength panels that met the project’s durability, fire safety, and environmental requirements. With engineered fixing and installation systems designed for on-site tolerance adjustment, ShapeShift also contributed to reducing installation risk and improving on-site efficiency.
Through this partnership, ShapeShift helped deliver a façade solution that combines architectural impact with long-term performance.
The successful delivery of the UNSW Health Translation Hub marks a significant advancement in the integration of health, education, and research infrastructure in New South Wales.
The building stands as a landmark within the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct, distinguished by its architecturally expressive façade, where ShapeShift’s GRC solar hoods and spandrel panels play a defining role in achieving both aesthetic and environmental performance.
The outcome reflects a collaborative effort that balanced design excellence, sustainability, and practical constructability, setting a new benchmark for future health precinct developments. Beyond its physical presence, the HTH will serve as a catalyst for medical innovation, fostering partnerships between academia, healthcare providers, and industry.
Its legacy lies in enhancing patient outcomes, accelerating translational research, and creating a publicly accessible urban precinct that connects people, knowledge, and community for generations to come.
ShapeShift provides innovative, sustainable, and high-quality cladding solutions for modern architectural projects. If you’re ready to bring your vision to life with ShapeShell’s advanced GRC materials, contact us today!
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