Sydney Law School
Sydney Law School
Podium and superstructure
We began by dividing the project’s complex and extensive programme into podium and superstructures. This allowed the creation a new, open-space sequence of lawns, terraces and plazas adjoining Eastern Avenue, the primary public artery of the campus.
Library and teaching spaces
Below these open spaces and within the solid podium, is positioned the library and teaching spaces accessed from stepped terraces and naturally lit from above through skylights and clerestories. Suspended above this public platform are a series of slender superstructures that split and splinter the remaining programme fragments. These fragments then coalesce at specific moments to define and frame new open spaces.
Glass and timber splinters
The materials of the splintered forms that define this edge and opening are layers of glass and timber louvres, suspended on fine stainless steel rods. These splinters possess a kinetic grain that changes with the position of the sun and preferences of those behind the timber screens. The ventilated double-skin system of enclosure draws in and controls natural air circulating through and around the interior, tempering the environment to cool and heat as necessary. The varying grain of the timber screens are overlaid with reflections of the park landscape and neo-gothic sandstone façades: a distilled reflection of the form, its means and its intent.
Explore the interiors of Sydney Law School.
Awards
| 2010 | World Architecture Festival | Completed Buildings: Learning, shortlist | |
| 2009 | Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) | Architecture Award for Public Buildings | |
| 2009 | Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) | Award for Sustainable Architecture | |
| 2009 | Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) | Urban Design, commendation | |
Press
| 12 Aug 2020 | Arch2O | Faculty of Law, University of Sydney | FJMT | |
| 14 Feb 2011 | ArchDaily | Faculty of Law, University of Sydney / FJMT | |
| 24 Jun 2009 | Bustler | Winners of Australian 2009 NSW Architecture Awards | |
| 24 Mar 2009 | Lawyers Weekly | Sneak peek: the new look Sydney Law School | |
