The plan of the Hub acknowledges the desire for incidental cross-pollination where researchers from one field encounter those from completely unrelated fields as part of their day-to-day use of the building. An exhibition space and design archive provide a public interface with both industry and research outcomes. These spaces, combined with a variety of lecture, seminar and multi purpose rooms, facilitate high level exchanges in a number of forums. The Hub has a large number of ESD features and incorporates strategies for water, waste, and recycling management that are the equivalent of any ESD-focused building on the planet.

In particular, the outer skin of the Hub incorporates automated glass sunshading cells that include solar power infrastructure, and evaporative cooling and fresh air intakes that improve the internal air quality and reduce running costs. The cells have been designed so that they can be easily replaced as advances in the development of solar power result in improved technology. Part of the northern façade is actually dedicated to ongoing research into solar energy to be conducted jointly by the industry and RMIT.

The entire building façade, in other words, has the capacity to be upgraded as technology evolves over the coming decades. Architects: Sean Godsell Architects (Sean Godsell, Hayley Franklin) Architect in Association: Peddle Thorp Architects (Chris Godsell, James Hampton, Raf Nespola)