The outcome of a competition to design a research facility for the University of Queensland dedicated to understanding the brain. The new building houses a remarkably broad gathering of the scientific community including researchers, associated schools, centres, institutes and commercial bodies. ‘A Theatre for Research’ theme was developed to frame an architectural approach that would encourage the fertile cross pollination of ideas hoped to be an outcome of the inhabited project. To this end, the building exaggerates the visibility of research activity, placing the laboratories on display upon entry. Circulation routes have been elevated from the prosaic to become lively promenades that are attached to informal conversation spaces important for conducting accidental research in a more social environment.