University of Melbourne New Student Precinct

Universities across Australia are transforming their campuses to improve the experience of learning, and to strengthen their identities. Sibling Architecture was part of a design team that proposed a concept design for the University of Melbourne’s $229 million New Student Precinct at its Parkville campus with the adaptive reuse of the nine existing buildings on the site as well as the construction of new cultural buildings.

This proposal creates a new civic address. A series of clear and legible points of arrival to the precinct are shaped with permeable edges that opens up the campus to the community. The welcome includes the exploitation of the ground plane and canopy, which makes a momentous point of arrival to greet students from south of Grattan Street. At the heart of the precinct is a meeting place to support quality interaction between students, researchers and peers. Facade treatments pop with bold treatments while patternation on the ground serves as a poignant reminder of our connection to land.

Our design team was led by MCR and HDR with Kosloff Architecture, WOWOWA, and Architecture Architecture along with rba, Black Art Projects, Biomicry Australia, and Brickfields.