Urban Design & Masterplanning, Education, Interior Architecture

UTS Blackfriars Design Competition

Our vision for the BPRB was to create a new industry hub that is both innovative and connected to the urban fabric in which it sits. As a leader in the community, this new building could further set UTS apart as a benchmark for connected, progressive and global Universities.

We developed a response to this through a careful reading of the site’s scale, form, materiality and spatial qualities. The design process was one of research and exploration that aimed to:

Enhance…. and extend a significant piece of 19th century Sydney urban fabric.
Consolidate…. by knitting the site together.
Explore…. utilising traditional materials in a contemporary manner to reflect the homogeneous materiality and form.
Refines…. our practices interest in transferring domestic material palettes into a larger scale project and;
Transforms…. the generic “research” building into one of particular, specific and memorable spaces.

Heritage Issues

The new Blackfriars Precinct Research Building (BPRB) posed a challenge to integrate a 21st century building into what is a very cohesive, finely grained and historic educational site. The site is significant as a complete city block of 19th century buildings with a shared palette and fine grain articulated forms.

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore - Learning Hub (The Arc) Opening

The Arc is a cutting-edge building that ‘breathes’. Its open curves, translucency and permeability create a civic gesture that forms a vibrant campus heart, promoting active social learning. The Arc embraces new performative design technologies that allowed us to fine-tune the design to work passively with the tropical climate of Singapore.

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QUT CIP2 Published on Architecture AU Website