![]() ![]() Robust and frank detailing, such as in handrails, stairs and other direct moments of user engagement, culminate in an unpretentious yet bold, sophisticated composition to be interpreted and enjoyed. Highly technical and functionally demanding spaces are cleverly and efficiently blended to deliver an asset that the university can purpose for a range of pedagogical needs. It is a building asking to be read, with the occupant accumulating a set of direct, contextual and digestible anecdotes rendered through form, material and colour. Liveris Building invites enquiry from the moment one sees it. Generated from a genuine collaboration between architects who practise in the service of ideas, the Andrew N. Here, engineering is fun, accessible and inclusive, which is indeed a triumph.īuilding up rather than out has left a significant proportion of the site as green space – a rare commodity in this part of the campus. One can see straight into and through laboratories to the campus and the city beyond, with the programmatic changes of use highlighted by shifts in colour as one ascends, in a manner that jettisons any sense of hierarchy. On the theme of pedagogy, it brings clarity to the diagram of stacked functional spaces. It works – evidenced during my visit by a high degree of student use on all levels of the building – as a set of “sticky” spaces to study, socialize and learn. In the Liveris case, the atrium is “both/and”: a central coherent space punctuated by a dynamic interplay of stairs, floating cubbies, and visual slices non-orthogonal to the plan. A typical M3 building, such as the Creative Learning Centre at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, employs the atrium as a collective experience to be shared while traversing stairs and walkways by contrast, the RMIT Swanston Academic Building by Lyons eschews the singular atrium for more discrete and episodic experiences. ![]() Having experienced a number of civic/educational buildings by each practice, I notice that they take a distinctly different approach to collective vertical circulation. The atrium is one moment where creative tension between Lyons and M3 may exist. The Andrews building served as a stimulating precedent, with the architects noting its qualities of staff–student adjacency, display of pragmatic engineering kit, and what they described as the alchemy of an “enjoyably compressed” faculty bursting at the seams. Further, the axial alignment of the new structure with the Forgan Smith tower will, the architects predict, become an apparent urban connection in future. Specifically, they have drawn upon references such as the veining and colour of the Great Court’s sandstone to generate the external colour palette of the facade glazing. The architects’ aim was to translate their reading of the Great Court into a kind of contemporary twin. To use Banney’s phrase, the “relevant fodder” – which was ultimately synthesized into a holistic response – began with two looming precedents: UQ’s Great Court, with its Forgan Smith tower and sandstone ambulatory, and the John Andrews-designed brutalist building that previously held the faculty. (Upon his retirement, Liveris, together with his wife Paula, donated $40 million to secure the construction of the building.) Underpinning the design generation for Banney and Lyon were three key themes: civic building-making, the culture of the end users, and the pedagogical imperatives of the brief. The building hosts the chemical engineering department, named for a notable alumnus: former Dow Chemical chairman and CEO Andrew N. In collaboration, these two architectural minds initiate a commitment to the importance of ideas to drive an outcome that can be supported through spatial expertise and technical resolution. For Lyon, it is a process of generating a complex web of myriad ideas, events, histories, patterns and details, then distilling these into a rich yet clear synthesis. For Banney, archi-tectural ideas are born of specific observations, anecdotes and stories – often, of things overlooked or uncovered through careful investigation. The development of their dissertations enabled both authors to articulate a very clear approach to their design and conceptualization process. The practice directors driving the design team, Carey Lyon of Lyons and Michael Banney of M3 Architecture, undertook – almost concurrently – the practice- based PhD model at RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Urban Design, graduating with doctorates in 20. I use “reading” with intention, as the Liveris building is generated by narrative, anecdote and a rich array of overlapping ideas.
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