 | CAMPUS PROJECTS A range of projects underway or recently completed across Australia’s tertiary institutions
| Monash University: Forestech |
Forestech, located in the Colquhoun Forest,
East Gippsland, and designed by Sedunary
Lake, is a joint venture between Monash
University, TAFE, various conservation
bodies, local council, trade unions, business
and forestry. The centre combines three
independent cultures relating to the
hardwood industry on the one campus –
resource management, furniture design and
forest harvesting. The building forms were
designed to celebrate timber’s heritage, and
its material and structural possibilities. The
buildings were also thought of as a
metaphor for the highly crafted furniture
produced by the students. The facility can
expand in terms of both training and
tourism.
Photo Trevor Mein.
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| Melbourne University: North Court Tensile Structure |
John Wardle Architects have recently
completed a tensile structure sheltering
Melbourne University’s North Court, outside
the Union Building. Whereas structures in the
civic realm generally represent permanence
and longevity, this project is essentially a
tent and has an ephemeral, event-based
presence. The architects compare the
structure to the Bedouin tent, one of the
earliest forms of tensile structure. Like
these shelters, the North Court structure
is the Union Building’s place for gathering,
eating, trading and entertainment. The
project’s structural dynamics are further
expressed by paving patterns which focus
on the tension points in the ground plane.
Photo Trevor Mein.
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| Edith Cowan University: Admin and School of Business |
MGT/Spowers Architects won the limited
design competition for new Administration
and School of Business buildings at the
university’s Joondalup campus. The
complex of buildings and open spaces will
create a new centre and image for the
campus, and is designed to reflect the open, progressive and democratic values of
the university. The administration building is
characterised by a a series of projecting
timber masts and struts that follow a
curvilinear geometry. This screen of timber
and steel shades the interiors and forms a
colonnade running through the public
facilities – exhibition, gallery, function, and
cafe – to the new quadrangle.
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| University of Queensland: GPN3 |
Peddle Thorp Architects and Donovan Hill
won the invited design competition for the
University of Queensland’s Commerce Hill
Precinct. The new facilities are designed to
consolidate the loose group of existing
buildings into an identifiable precinct, to
pilot the next stage of UQ’s northern
development, and to reconcile functional
demands with adjacent symbolic and
ceremonial spaces. This will be achieved
through two interrelated commissions: the
design of general purpose buildings, and
the reconfiguration and refurbishment of
campus forecourts and ceremonial space.
As a consequence of this project the
architects are now involved in a planning
study for UQ’s Forgan Smith Forecourt.
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| Curtin University: Curtin Business School and Institute of Technology |
Jones Coulter Young’s new northern gateway
precinct on Curtin’s Bentley Campus is
designed to create a new major northern
focus and entry point for the business and
health areas of the campus. The framework
for this substantial new urban element is
provided by terracotta-coloured precast
concrete elements, both sculpted and etched.
The central plaza will be framed to the south
by a new cafe and bank facility, and, in the
near future, a physiotherapy and podiatry
clinic to the west. Strong environmental
initiatives have been adopted, including the
construction of a highly sculptural 3.8
megalitre thermal storage tank which will run
the air-conditioning for the whole campus.
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| Curtin University: Sarawak Campus |
Curtin Sarawak, by Jones Coulter Young,
is a joint venture between the Malaysian
Government and Curtin University of
Technology. The concept driving the project
is a “university in a garden”, with a strong
focus on ecological sustainability. The design
endeavours to create a strong local sense of
place, through the use of local materials and
landscape, grounded in the creation of a
living community encompassing people,
landscape, buildings and new technologies.
Stage 1 of the masterplan is currently under
construction; this includes administration
offices, library, student and staff facilities,
lecture theatre, laboratories and general
teaching areas for an initial enrolment of
approximately 1,200 students.
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| Melbourne University: School of Botany |
Lyons’ new facility for the School of Botany
includes specialist botanical laboratories and
new academic offices. Fully integrated with
existing facilities, it creates a new edge to the
historic Systems Garden. The building
responds to this garden edge, and addresses
the urban alignment of Tin Alley. It also meets
high level ESD concepts, including individual
control to teaching and office areas and
natural ventilation.
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| Deakin University: Activity Centre |
H2o Architects’ activity centre for Deakin
University’s Melbourne campus at
Burwood will incorporate a range of
passive environmental design strategies
to control the internal environment. The
building’s facilities are enclosed in a clear
glass “shell”, with operable sun shades to
modify seasonal temperature extremes.
The project also includes a landscape
proposal developed with DEEPend
landscape architects. This includes
external water ponds and planting islands
that will run into the building’s interior
spaces. The project has been designed to
create a vibrant building with less need
for artificial heating and lighting.
Photo Trevor Mein.
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| UTS: Fairfax Building |
Bligh Voller Nield is redeveloping the former
Fairfax Press Building, located on Broadway
in the city centre, for the University of
Technology, Sydney. This will bring many of
the business units and faculties, currently
renting smaller spaces throughout Ultimo,
onto the main campus, and will allow for the
growth of student numbers. The project is
part of a BVN masterplan that aims to create
a cohesive, unified city campus for UTS, with
a strong “campus feel”. The masterplan
includes proposals for “Alumni Green”, a
new central space designed as the
university’s student “heart”, and similar in
scale to Sydney University’s Main
Quadrangle or UNSW’s Library Lawn. A
pedestrian axis will connect Alumni Green to
the new Fairfax atrium.
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| University of The Sunshine Coast: Innovation Centre |
Bligh Voller Nield’s Innovation Centre, built on
a low budget and tight time frame, combines
a small business “incubator” facility with an
auditorium for both university and private
functions. These functions shelter under a
toroidal roof, with the twisting geometries
wrapping the roof down to the ground. The
form was designed to satisfy the university’s
desire for an iconic building with a distinct
identity and a public face to the main road,
and a building which symbolised the
university’s commitment to innovation and
enterprise in the local community.
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| Southern Cross University: Innovation Centre |
Stutchbury and Pape’s winning design for an
Innovation Centre will be the first building at
Southern Cross University’s new Cellulose
Technology Park, specialising in research,
development and commercial production of
natural plant products. The building
integrates environmental systems with
aesthetic and spatial developments. A double
skinned thermal wall twists through the middle of the building. It is flanked by a long,
battened verandah housing flexible work
areas on the western side, and by a main
central hall for open plan offices, designed
as a “lightweight shed”, to the east. The
central atrium is designed to function as the
primary educator for building users and
visitors, incorporating solar panels,
conductive ventilation, water reticulation
systems, and a subterranean creek, while
also generating an interactive social space.
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