A stage within a city – a wonderful way to describe an education space that facilitates connections between students, industry and the community and delivers innovative thinking and design to a regional economy.
The University of Newcastle Building Q continues our partnership with the University delivering quality buildings with a focus on innovation and design excellence. Designed by EJE Architects and working with Hansen Yuncken Newcastle and APP Newcastle, AECOM delivered building services for the first CLT building in Newcastle.
This building is the first in the Honeysuckle City Campus development, driving innovation through an engaging mix of education, research and accommodation facilities where industry and community can collaborate together. The facilities include four storeys of seminar and conference spaces, studio and exhibition spaces for creative artists, songwriters, animators and innovators. It will be home to some of the University’s creative disciplines such as media arts, production, news and digital media, animation, creative arts, performing arts, song writing and music production. The building also includes two community and industry engagement spaces that encourage and showcase innovative thinking and collaboration. The Future Arts and Science Technology Lab (FASTLab) is a living lab and translational research centre, and the Integrated Innovation Network Hub (I2N) is dedicated to the incubation, start-up and launch of new commercial ventures. These facilities will become important facilitators of discussion and ideas between staff, students and industry partners, encouraging new industries and economic growth in the Hunter region.
The CLT building of this scale is a first for Newcastle, the perfect complement for a building style premised on innovative forward thinking outcomes. Services are exposed and incorporate some complex and first in kind solutions such as early engagement with the CLT supplier in Australia to detail and secure testing for fire coordination, use of Sage dynamic glass, a tinted thermal controlled glass, and reverberant acoustic panels throughout. The building integrates environmentally sustainable design principles and construction processes, while combining cutting edge materials and designs to provide spaces that encourage and support collaboration and innovation across the community.
