Description

This $170 million dollar project is for 16,000m² of bookable teaching, learning and generic research space for the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Science and Engineering Faculties.

The site is located in a significant part of QUT’s inner city Gardens Point Campus and is home to the State’s original but superseded Government House. It is adjacent to the original City Botanic Gardens, which historically were also the gardens of the House.

The proposal recasts this historical relationship by demolishing several blocking buildings and forming a massive connecting outdoor room that reinstates a visual connection between old Government House, the University campus and the gardens. This space is a fundamental organizational and orientation element of the scheme and it gives a public gathering space for the campus and a new identifiable campus entry.

The proposal consolidates the program in two separate buildings that define the edges of this space and at its ground plane it is flanked by arcades and terraces containing remade key communal facilities for the campus including refectory, food court, cafe, Olympic sized swimming pool, gymnasium, retail and book stores. The brief also requires that the project achieves a 5 Star Green Star rating for design and as built under the education tool V1 as well as the provision of a significant number of car parking spaces.

The urban design proposition responds to the recently refurbished Old Government House precinct and the adjacent City Botanic Gardens, presenting a new image of the University back to the boarder community though a strong emphasis on environmentally sustainable deign initiatives.

The proposed teaching, learning and research environments will involve innovative collaborative, structured and unstructured student directed learning spaces with strong emphasis on adaptability and space sharing. These spaces are very porous at the ground levels of the building which will help establish a very open and casual character for the University.

The project also provides administrative, office and laboratory accommodation to support the precinct’s teaching and learning spaces.