Building 220 at the Bundoora campus of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has been designed to provide academic facilities in an architecturally iconic shell. The building plan is an arc which sweeps from the campus core across gentle grass slopes towards a stand of 400-year-old red gums. The basic concrete structure, with a single vertical service core topped by a plant room, is clad with rock-textured concrete interruped with circular windows and metal panels in an exaggerated brick pattern interruped by vertical windows. The floor plan has many small offices and teaching rooms aligned along external walls and accessed from corridors located either centrally or to one side.

Jury Verdict

In a very sophisticated architectural solution that stands clearly on the site without fuss, Wood Marsh and PINK have responded to what could be seen as a constricting brief with wit and ingenuity. With the sweeping curve of their building, they have acknowledged the disparate surrounding buildings and the significant landscape.

The convex & concave planes embedded in solid masses at either end result in a work of architecture as sculpture in the landscape. This anchored quality is reinforced by the subtle raising of the underbelly of the building as it sweeps down the hill. The vibrant oversize brick pattern of the Alucabond cladding is the sole contender for a link to the existing red brick campus buildings, yet the building gives new life to the campus. The architects have designed a building which gives an overall impression of a bold and simple unified concept with great presence. It has become the new face of the campus.

Photography Tim Griffith

2 Treasury Place, Melbourne
Design Architect Peter Elliott. Project Architect Curnow Freiverts Glover. Project Manager, Heritage Architect, Structural, Lift and Hydraulic Engineers Building Services Agency. Owner Department of Treasury and Finance. Tenant Department of Education. Building Services Umow Lai & Associates. Acoustics Watson Moss Growcott. Quantity Surveyor Slattery Australia. Contractors Kane Constructions (facade and roof), Hooker Cockram (interiors).

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