Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct

A new knowledge precinct

The 200-hectare Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct occupies the site of the former Commonwealth Games village, now home to key tenants Gold Coast Private Hospital, Gold Coast University Hospital and Griffith University. Supported by $5 billion in infrastructure, the precinct is positioned as a global business location for high-tech industry development, research collaboration and jobs of the future.

EDQ engaged Diadem to provide site-wide wayfinding signage. Through detailed discussion with stakeholders, Diadem recognised that wayfinding on its own would not help encourage development at the site. What the precinct needed first was signage that could mark its key entry points and tell its innovation story through sculptural form. The brief was altered accordingly, and existing City of Gold Coast signage standards were used as a baseline to complement new unique signage elements.

A sustainable landmark

Sustainability was embedded in the design thinking from the outset. Drawing on biomimicry, the concept explored how site-identification signage could contribute positively to the built environment rather than simply marking arrival.

The proposed structures incorporated a range of sustainable initiatives, including renewable energy generation, low-impact materials and digital content capabilities, reflecting the precinct’s focus on innovation, research and future-thinking.

The result is a landmark signage concept that extends beyond wayfinding, expressing the precinct’s health and knowledge identity through a design approach inspired by nature. Based on the principles of a tree’s natural filtration process, the structures were conceived as sculptural markers that could contribute to both place and environmental performance.