Tools & Resources
The Botanic Gardens Bicentennial Conservatory, Adelaide
Botanical Gardens Conservatory used architectural panels made from COLORBOND® steel in the colour Windspray® to create the ceilings and walls.
| Location: | Botanic Gardens, Adelaide |
| Country: | Australia |
| Client: | Board of The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide |
| Architect: | Raffen Maron Architects Pty Ltd |
| Engineer: | Connell Group |
| Fabricator: | Bondor® |
| Products Used: |
Roofing Walling Insulated Panels |
A simple yet elegant arch of steel and glass has helped put paid to Adelaide's reputation as the staid and conservative 'city of churches'.
And in so doing, the Botanic Gardens Bicentennial Conservatory for Tropical Plants - completed in 1989 as a major Bicentennial project - has provided one of the earliest examples of EPS cored steel sandwich panels making the successful leap from utilitarian refrigeration panel to beautiful architectural form.
Architect Guy Maron, of Raffen Maron, says it was hard to go past steel panels on the material selection criteria.
"We wanted something that was quick to erect, straight, long, good looking and insulating - and it did all those things, " he says.
"In terms of material and cladding costs, it was also well below anything else."
Bondor® Equitilt® steel panels, used principally over the plant room areas, were specified in COLORBOND® prepainted steel in Shale Grey™.
Raffen Maron designed a proprietary jointing system to provide a watertight seal. Because of the potential for heat loss, the thermal performance of the steel panels was also important.
The simplicity of the 100 metre long elongated arch form belies a highly complicated geometry.
The webs of 28 prefabricated steel trusses, each angled differently, were pre-stressed to carry varying loads. Erection tolerances were within 1 to 2 millimetres. Both straight and tapered steel panel sections were incorporated into the design.
At the time of construction, the individual glass panels (each 100 square metres in size) represented the biggest single lift of sheet glass. Designed to last 100 years, the Bicentennial Conservatory displays plants from the tropical rainforests of South East Asia. Many of them are at risk or endangered in their natural habitats.
Elevated steel walkways through the foliage of tropical trees and palms and brick paved paths winding along the rainforest floor provide interesting and different viewing options for visitors.
