Friday 6 and Sunday 8 November 2015: National Wine Centre
Photo acknowledgement: Adelaide Convention Bureau
The National Wine Centre will host both days of conference presentations and keynote addresses. It overlooks the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and is adjacent the 1870s former Adelaide Lunatic Asylum. The main building was designed to evoke a sense of space typically found at a winery. The materials and finishes gradually change from course and robust to fine and smooth surfaces, reflecting the increasingly refined aspects of the winemaking process. The Centre was opened in 2001 and is the design of Cox Grieve Architects (now Grieve Gillett Anderson).
In 2002 the National Wine Centre won two awards: the Award of Merit from the Royal Australia Institute of Architects and the Best Architecture Award from the World Conference on Timber Engineering.
The main auditorium, Hickinbotham Hall, boasts 100-year old jarrah floorboards, rammed earth wall construction of sand and clay from local regions, and a tensioned diagrid ceiling of stainless steel and timber, which slopes dramatically from 23m down to 4m. The Vines Room on the ground floor has outdoor access, overlooks the Botanic Gardens wetland area and will be used for catering.