Design team for University of Melbourne's Student Precinct announced
The University of Melbourne has announced the appointment of the team of architects and designers for its $229 million New Student Precinct on the Parkville Campus.
Led by Lyons Architecture, the successful team was chosen from a shortlist of five design groups.
The New Student Precinct will be located on the corner of Grattan and Swanston Streets, and is bound by Monash Road to the north, and the Melbourne School of Engineering Precinct to the west.
Locating the centre adjacent to the University’s traditional college accommodation to the north and new purpose-built student accommodation to the south will ensure it provides a successful platform for the University’s 60,000 students to easily connect.
Additionally, the project will neighbour the University’s innovation precinct - the Carlton Connect Initiative being designed by Hayball and Woods Bagot and to be delivered by Lendlease.
The New Student Precinct is being co-created, with over 5,500 students partnering with the project as active contributors and decision-makers. The project aims to deliver a new series of student spaces that will include a diverse range of social spaces, mixed-use retail, food and beverage outlets, and increased contemporary study spaces for the whole campus community.
Encompassing nine buildings, the Precinct will bring together the University’s student unions, academic services, and the Institute for Indigenous Development, Murrup Barak for the first time; significantly reshaping and revitalising the landscape and built environment of the site.
Much of the development will be through the adaptive re-use of existing buildings, including extensive refurbishments and façade treatments.
The New Student Precinct intends to "make a significant contribution to the transformation of the on-campus student experience at Parkville by delivering a world-class student hub for the whole campus community."
Design lead Lyons Architecture will collaborate with a team of specialists and fellow designers to create the Precinct, including Koning Eizenberg Architects from the USA (led by alumni Julie Eizenberg and Hank Koning). Aspect Studios, Breathe Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Glas Urban and Architects EAT are also present.
The design team has been tasked with creating a vibrant centre of activity that will co-locate student services and activities closer to the new heart of the campus, and to primary transport links.
What they say...
The selection process fostered and supported submissions from some of the most speculative and innovative design and spatial practitioners in Australia and overseas. The finalists each provided a unique vision for how the University of Melbourne embraces the changing role and experience of education, research and community engagement. The winning team fulfils the ambitious goals of the New Student Precinct process to produce a lasting legacy in the new centre for the campus.
- Professor Donald Bates, Melbourne School of Design Chair of Architectural Design and member of the selection panel
Our design team, who are all university alumni, are looking forward to working closely with students so that the design positively reflects their aspirations for a campus experience.
- Carey Lyon, Founding Director, Lyons
The Precinct, which will be co-created with students, will transform the cultural, social and engagement opportunities for students and set a new benchmark.
- Paul Duldig, New Student Precinct Project Sponsor and Head of University Services
Works commenced on site in January 2018 with a completion scheduled for 2021–2022.
An exhibition of the architectural Concept and Design Responses from the five shortlisted architect teams is currently on display in the Basement Foyer of the Melbourne School of Design until Friday 23 March.
The teams will also make a presentation on Friday 16 March as part of Melbourne Design Week.
New Student Precinct at the University of Melbourne from New Student Precinct - Uni Melb on Vimeo.
