Lyons expand their design legacy as Brisbane's Liveris Academy draws closer to reality

This month's announcement that University of Queensland's Sustainable Futures Building is drawing closer to reality has given cause to touch upon architecture firm Lyons' stellar design legacy across multiple Australian cities.

Lyons in association with m3architecture won the design competition for the development during late 2015, but the project has only this month received a major boost with alumni Andrew N. Liveris pledging $13.5 million to take the project from design to reality. The intended 11-storey engineering, education and research hub will now be known as the Liveris Academy.

At University of Queensland's St Lucia campus, Liveris Academy is yet another project which showcases Lyons' uncommon design traits. 

Having won a Design Competition in late 2015, Lyons and m3architecture have now commenced Schematic Design and Design Development work on the new Sustainable Futures Building, a major investment by the University of Queensland for their School of Chemical Engineering and new campus learning spaces.

The project will be UQ’s flagship platform to integrate innovative teaching with interdisciplinary and solutions focused research by incorporating a range of collaborative spaces with overlapping boundaries between learning, research and industry.

The new spaces will act as a vibrant hub for industry and interdisciplinary collaboration that will address global challenges such as energy, water and sustainable manufacturing.

Lyons

Expected to be built by 2020, Liveris Academy's multicoloured facade and sandstone base are distinctive design features. Protruding design elements are very much in keeping with Lyons' design style, as evidenced by existing projects such as Melbourne's LIMS Building and Newcastle University's New Space project.

In terms of Liveris Academy, an open aired staircase provides the form-breaking design aspect; it along with common spaces add to the design's standpoint of being ‘outwardly open and transparent, while inwardly intense and focused’.

Liveris Academy is but one of many Lyons projects across the nation that are readily recognisable. In shape, style and especially colour, Lyons designs are exceedingly unique. This is particularly the case with their education and research-based designs, of which a sample are shown below.

Next on Lyons' agenda is the position of design lead for University of Melbourne’s forthcoming New Student Precinct project. During March it was announced that University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus will play host to nine refurbished or redeveloped buildings which will amalgamate a range of services and university bodies.

The $229 million project will see Lyons head an expanded design team which includes United States-based Koning Eizenberg Architects, Aspect Studios, Breathe Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Glas Urban and Architects EAT.