138 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA DECEMBER 2017
INSPIRING ARCHITECT
MEDICAL LEADER
As deputy director of the Microbiological Diagnostic
Institute at Melbourne’s Public Health Laboratory,
Dr Williamson tackles issues of global importance,
such as the spread of communicable diseases
between populations. The institute, which is a joint
venture between the University of Melbourne and
the Royal Melbourne Hospital, brings together
academics and frontline medical personnel to
solve seemingly intractable problems.
During 2016, Williamson rallied a team of
researchers from around the world to investigate
the cause of a mysterious mycobacterial infection
that was aicting cardiac-surgery patients in
several countries. Her work on that project recently
earned her a $25,000 fellowship from the L’Oréal-
UNESCO ‘For Women in Science’ program, which
she intends to put towards researching a pressing
health issue: global antibiotic resistance.
“The scientific community is in complete
agreement on this: antibiotic resistance is one of the
biggest health threats of the modern age,” she says.
If resistance increases, common procedures such as
chemotherapy and hip replacements could become
exceedingly risky, and relatively minor bacterial
aictions could turn deadly. “We should absolutely
be sounding the alarm,” Williamson says.DR DEBORAH
WILLIAMSON
With its newly completed
International House at Sydney’s
redeveloped zone of Barangaroo,
architecture firm Tzannes has
created the first building of its
type and size in the country from
engineered timber — picking
up the prestigious Athenaeum
and European Centre for
Design Award for International
Architecture. The firm’s director,
Jonathan Evans, discusses the
concept behind the project.
“Most traditional
ofices, including surrounding
buildings in Barangaroo, are made
of concrete, steel and glass. We
felt it was time to create a new
aesthetic for ofice buildings,
one that provides a warmer,
calmer and more natural space to
work in; an indoor environment
with a positive physical and
psychological efect on the
wellbeing of the people who
work in and visit it, because
research has found people feel
a greater sense of wellbeing
in a timber structure. Our practice
is passionate about sustainability
and working towards a net zeroJonathan Evans
carbon built environment,
something that we shared
with the client, Lendlease.
“The new forms of
engineered timber, which are
grown and produced sustainably,
ofered the potential to do all
this. Another plus of engineered
timber is that the whole building
essentially is pre-made before it
arrives, ofering major advantages
over a conventional commercial
building: it is much quicker to
build, waste is greatly reduced,
and risks, such as weather
conditions, are minimised. So
creating this commercial building
from over 3500 cubic metres
of spruce timber made absolute
sense, for us and our client.”