Blog Archive

Entrance into Giant Panda Forest, Adelaide, South Australia

HASSELL has received a total of five awards for its work on the Adelaide Zoo Entrance Precinct and Giant Panda Forest at the Australian Institute of Architects, South Australia Architecture Awards held on Friday 2 July.

The recently completed Entrance Precinct won one of the state's top architecture honours at the Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture, making this the third year running that a HASSELL project has been recognised with the award.

Mariano DeDuonni, Managing Principal of HASSELL, said to win this prestigious award for the third time was not only an outstanding achievement, it had special significance for the practice. Jack McConnell was central to the foundation and growth of HASSELL and this award is the ultimate recognition that we continue to embody his theories and principles today, Mr DeDuonni said.

The Entrance Precinct also received the Robert Dickson Award for Interior Architecture, along with two Architecture Awards, one for Urban Design and a second for Sustainability. In announcing the awards, the jury noted: "HASSELL has considered every detail of this public domain with particular attention on the experiential quality of the entrance." The Giant Panda Forest also received a Commendation for Public Architecture.

The $27 million transformation of Adelaide Zoo was designed to reconnect the Zoo with the surrounding parklands and embody the organisation's sustainable principles. The Zoo is now home to South Australia's largest collection of living walls and roofs, lowering energy use inside the entrance building and providing the first purpose-designed habitat for native fauna in Australia. Rainwater is also harvested, stored and reused for irrigating the Zoo's extensive gardens.