Bendigo TAFE celebrates
another win

Our Bendigo Campus Revitalisation project has been presented with the Australian Urban Design Award (AUDA) in the Built Project – Local and Neighbourhood Scale category.

The campus is now home to multiple diverse student groups, each with specific learning needs and spatial requirements. The future-focused design creates a nurturing, nourishing, and collaborative environment where everyone feels welcome, comfortable and supported.

The prestigious AUDA program is co-convened by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). Together, the AUDA Jury stated that the project offered a careful act of urban surgery at the scale of a city block and that via a creative repurposing of the budget, Architectus were able to efficiently add two new buildings and refurbish three more, framing a series of well-programmed outdoor spaces.

“New buildings, using simple and robust materials respond to their heritage context and frame ground floor activity to create an exceptionally welcoming, inclusive and conducive learning environment for students, visitors and staff. Waa and Bunjil, the crow and the eagle, from Dja Dja Wurrung cultural and belief systems are represented in the facades of the buildings and through artwork by Indigenous artist Mandy Nicholson, while the landscape represents ‘upside down Country’, privileging endemic plant species. Heritage brick buildings, local plants and stone create a uniquely harmonious and sensory visitor experience. The design collaboration and engagement was extensive and meaningful, evidenced in the quality of the built environment.” explained the Jury