UTS Central

Ribbon element developed with Lacoste + Stevenson

The largest building on campus

UTS Central (CB02) is the largest new building that has been added to the UTS campus. The project commenced in 2014 and was completed in August 2019, with a construction period of 2.5 years. University of Technology Sydney is a unique campus, particularly because of its location on the fringe of the CBD in Sydney. This brings significant limitations on space and opportunity for the UTS campus to spread and grow horizontally with the only opportunity to increase the campus vertically. The brief called for a connected campus that is integrated within the fabric of city in a legible and permeable fashion to create a ‘sticky’ campus with places for students that, ‘foster a strong sense of an academic community, with an emphasis on spaces that enable collaboration and communication.’ The new building (CB02) is located adjacent to the existing UTS tower (CB01) with the lower podium levels connected on grade therefore extending and significantly increasing the existing internal campus of CB01.

A concept for the site

Understanding the needs of the University, with the physical constraints of both the site and immediate context, we developed a concept for UTS Central which was to establish a new vertical campus that connected the city with the campus. The building (CB02) was developed as two parts, with two distinct geometries: the podium, which references the immediate context; and the main street (Broadway), the city geometry and the only green planted part of the campus (Alumni Green) the campus geometry. The tower, positioned over the podium, is formed to respond to both geometries by a rotation of each level, with the floor plates also decreasing in size as the tower increases in height.

The Library

The Library is divided into a number of spaces both secured within the Library and unsecured/informal spaces that are distributed throughout the building on all podium levels. Part of the podium facing onto Alumni Green is a new dramatic three-storey Reading Room that forms part of the Library. This space references that of important traditional Reading Rooms, it however recreates a highly transparent and contemporary space, filled with natural light controlled by a highly sophisticated facade and operable sun control system that overlooks the main campus of Alumni Green. Students using the Green will be able to look up and see into this space while those inside can likewise experience the Green outside, while experiencing an internal space that is highly connected yet peaceful and quiet. The organisation of the building, focused on locating the stairs and escalators on the perimeter of the building and making these highly visible both internally and externally, further reinforces the activation and use of the building both at night and during the day. The lifts are also positioned in such a way that they are visible internally, however those moving through the building would notice and be drawn to either stairs or escalators. As the largest development on the UTS campus, UTS Central will be the new home of a number of faculties and departments. These include the Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT), the Faculty of Law and the UTS Library.

Collaborative teaching spaces

Within the podium there are two 350-person collaborative teaching spaces and a single 200-person collaborative teaching space. The configuration of both the larger and smaller collaborative teaching spaces are part of a vision of UTS to introduce new teaching methods that move away from traditional ways of delivering classes with a single lecturer delivering 45 to 50-minute lectures. This new method explores ways of teaching through collaboration and discussion. The spaces that have been designed strive to create very large spaces that can facilitate large student numbers yet provide intimacy across only two levels (with each space split into two levels with 600mm difference) and maintain connectivity between students and lecturers/tutors.

Explore the interiors and landscape of UTS Central.

Awards
2021	World Architecture Festival	Completed Buildings: Higher Education and Research, shortlist
2021	World Architecture Festival (INSIDE)	Education, shortlist
2018	World Architecture Festival	Future Projects: Education, shortlist

Press
8 Sep 2020	ArchitectureAU	Recoding campus architecture: UTS Central
21 Aug 2019	ArchDaily	FJMT’s UTS Central Academic Hub Opens to the Public in Sydney
16 Aug 2019	UTS News	Reading Room with a viewpoint
27 Feb 2019	designboom	FJMT designs the new UTS central building at the university of technology in sydney