The Australian Tropical Forest Institute (AFTI) is an international centre for tropical landscape research promoting commercial and sustainable development of biodiversity in tropical landscapes, located at James Cook University North Queensland.
Designed by Woodhead in collaboration with Power Graham and Dempsey, the building form set apart by its angular and responsive modernist aesthetic provides a robust and flexible research and learning environment.
The design encourages greater interaction and information exchange and consultation between research groups, and provides sustainable solutions for education and research building. The building is oriented to reduce solar gain to external walls; temper conditioned air as well as provide light: vital to environmentally sustainable design.
The specialised commercial facility design creates a synergy between government and commercial organisations housed within the complex. Facilities include conference amenities with break out rooms, offices, and state-of-the-art laboratory facilities including a plant quarantine laboratory and herbarium for research into plant materials.
Australia is recognised as a world leader in tropical forest research and World Heritage Management. The ATFI provides sustainable solutions for the use and conservation of Australia’s tropical landscapes as well as assisting to create new sustainable rural industries based on an understanding of forest ecology.
