Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
Client:
The University of Sydney
Location:
Sydney, NSW
Status:
Built, June 2018
Floor Area:
7876 sqm
Contact Person:
Ray Brown
Sydney University’s new Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) aims to express the transformation of Australia’s oldest university campus through a restrained and timeless expression of connection, collaboration, community, art and heritage.
Comprising a new teaching and learning facility and extensive refurbishment of the heritage RD Watt Building, Architectus’ design responds to the University’s “Wingara Mura” Strategy, expressing a deep connection with its former landscape, broader campus context and strong cultural connection.
Working in unison to contrast the old and new, a sophisticated curtain wall with dynamic bronze-coloured optical effect defines the new facility and is a contemporary reference to campus stone and masonry materiality.
The Arts and Crafts-style RD Watt Building, originally the home of the Faculty of Agriculture, was rejuvenated and integrated into the 21st century facility through a restrained refurbishment that connects century old pedagogy with contemporary teaching and learning practice.
The innovative, low-maintenance glass facade, a first in Australia, is a sophisticated high-performance curtain wall with bronze anodized framing and vertical emphasis. Its highly insulated facade is given singular expression with a dynamic optical effect created by a metallic bronze coated interstitial fabric mesh, laminated into the glass, which responds to light in a variable way, as a contemporary reference to the stone and masonry materiality of RD Watt and wider campus.
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Client:
The University of Sydney
Location:
Sydney, NSW
Status:
Built, June 2018
Floor Area:
7876 sqm
Contact Person:
Ray Brown
Key People
Angela Collings
Associate Principal
Sydney
Madeleine Joyce
Senior Associate
Melbourne
Trevor Coolledge
Senior Associate
Melbourne
Andrew Schunke
Principal
Studio Leader
Adelaide
Robert Ousey
Principal
Group Director Transport
Sydney
