South Australia is the traditional heart of the Australian wine industry, producing some of the oldest individual wines in the world, as well as most of our vin ordinaire.

The new Wine Innovation Cluster at the University of Adelaide's Waite campus brings together the five leading wine research agencies working together to maintain the state's primacy against the Old World - France and Germany - and the New, including the USA, South Africa, Chile and New Zealand.

At the heart of the Cluster is the new Wine Innovation Central Building, a remarkable building that houses research staff from the Australian Wine Research Institute and Adelaide University. However the building partnership is broader, encompassing CSIRO and SARDI, the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

"There was a pressing need to raise the profile and the standard of the facilities which are essentially laboratory-based research," explains Mark Coventry, project architect and senior associate with HASSELL.

The designers specified Austral Bricks Terraçade, a revolutionary cladding that combines the low maintenance, self-finishing and sustainability properties of terracotta with the benefits of a modern curtain wall system.

The building is set on what was effectively a greenfield site in the eastern half of a campus that has buildings dating back more than a century. "To the east of the Centre is a winery, with CSIRO to the west and plant research facilities to the north," says Coventry who adds that his clients wanted a more "international look" for their new building.

"They wanted something which was more appropriate to the setting and more aligned with connotations of the wine industry and the earthiness of vines growing in red clay soils. Their holistic approach to research - from vine to wine - is acknowledged in the selection of terracotta for the building."

Terraçade, and this colour in particular, was also chosen because of the context, with a number of heritage red brick buildings on the campus, albeit in the western half. "It was an acknowledgement of those buildings and the use of red brick but taking the terracotta and using it in a contemporary way. Our brief was to create a world-class facility and we wanted people to recognise it as a significant modern piece of architecture."

The building has three main levels underpinned by a half level that houses storage facilities. The upper levels are equally divided between the two tenants, with entry via a glazed stairwell on the southern face accessing shared facilities including seminar and breakout rooms, a board room and library. The secure laboratory and support areas are placed to the east and west in a design that will cope
with the inevitable changes that will be required over time.

The building structure is a concrete frame with precast columns, post-tensioned in one direction. There are generous window areas to allow natural light, shaded vertically to the south and horizontally and vertically to the north. The central core also has shaded external balconies at all levels on the north.The Terraçade tile chosen, Pilbara Linear, has horizontal "rules" that add to the surface texture. "It gives a bit more texture and character," Coventry considers. "The building has quite a lot of verticality so it also helps to break that up."

The installation was carried out by Cladding and Roofing, who have several other Terraçade jobs under their belt including the prestigious Eastern Stands at the Adelaide Oval. "I think they did an excellent job," Coventry commends. He describes the Wine Innovation Central Building as "low key and understated, a building that will stand the test of time as an architectural contribution to the campus. It's not trying to be overly bold; it's just providing a pleasant envelope to a very functional design."

• "Their holistic approach to research - from vine to wine - is acknowledged in the selection of terracotta for the building."
• "It's not trying to be overly bold; it's just providing a pleasant envelope to a very functional design."
• "We wanted people to recognise it as a significant modern piece of architecture."