As part of the Arts Redevelopment project, the University of Melbourne has renovated its Arts Faculty building on Macleod Road in the main Parkville campus in Melbourne.  A stunning visual feature of the new building is the louvered facade on three sides.  To protect the structure from corrosion and to add visual appeal, the project team opted to galvanize the louvers.

The steel sections of each louver have been shaped so that they form part of a series of 3D images that can be viewed from different angles as people walk around the building and look on from nearby buildings.

The project team chose galvanizing due to its durable nature, commenting that the stability of the galvanized surface meant that the time between maintenance inspections is much longer than other products, thus reducing the life cycle costs of the structure.

During construction of the project, over 480 individually numbered steel frames were fabricated, galvanized and delivered to site.  Once on site the panels were installed piece by piece similar to a large jigsaw puzzle with no panel the same.  The nature of the galvanized steel was critical in protecting the delicate panels on site both from the elements and from onsite construction equipment, a feat not possible with less durable options such as paint.

The end result was a stunning looking building with all key stakeholders including fabricator, builder, architect and building owners commenting they will surely consider galvanizing on any future projects.