Macquarie University
examples of innovative collaboration
Incubator
Project Details
Client: Macquarie University
Location: Macquarie Park, NSW
Approx. Value: $7.6m
Floor Area: 953 m2
Completed: July, 2017
Contact
luke.johnson@architectus.com.au
Awards
Design competition winner
Master Builders Association of NSW Excellence
in Construction Awards, Tertiary Buildings up to
$10m, 2018
Australian Institute of Architects (AIA), National
Architecture Award for Education, 2018
Sustainability Awards, Education &
Research, 2018
The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture
and Design, The International Architecture
Award, 2018
Australian Institute of Architects (NSW), William E
Kemp Award for Educational Architecture, 2018
Australian Institute of Architects (NSW),
Sustainable Architecture - Commendation, 2018
INDE.Awards, The Learning Space, 2018
Learning Environments Australasia, Annual
Excellence in Educational Facilities Awards
Overall Winner, 2018
Australian Timber Design Awards, Excellence
in Timber Design - Innovative Structural Design
Award, 2018
Good Design Awards®, Architectural
Design, 2018
Chicago Athenaeum, Green GOOD DESIGN™
Research and Technology, 2018
Association of Consulting Structural Engineers
“The Incubator is one of the best
between client, designer, contractor
and subcontractors that I’ve ever seen.
Together we delivered a visionary
project within budget, on-time and to
a quality that exceeded everyone’s
expectations.”
–– Mark Broomfield, Director of Property, Macquarie
University
The Macquarie University Incubator was
designed to respond to the diverse and
changing needs of its occupants, as
well as two key aspects that informed
the design of the space; a relocatable
building and a short timeframe for its
implementation.
Timber was selected as the main
construction material for its capacity
to be beautifully engineered, swiftly
fabricated to high quality, and for
its potential for future dis-assembly
and relocation, with the majority of
components prefabricated offsite to
ensure rapid construction on site and
minimal disruption to the concurrent
university semester. The resulting
building was completed within five
months of construction commencing.
A harmonious palette of materials creates
a sequence of spaces that are tactile and
characteristically warm. Various timber
species were used throughout, including
a ceiling diaphragm of cross laminated
timber, large span laminated veneer
lumber beams and glulam V columns,
as well as spotted gum hardwood and
cork for the interior floor surfaces, and
plywood for the external walls. Working
with partners including Lipman and
StrongBuild, these materials allowed us
to take an innovative approach to design,
while offering potential for a very high
degree of reuse should the building ever
be relocated.
The Incubator was conceived as a pair of
pavilions, each with flexible layouts that
lend themselves to the future adaptations
and functions of the start-ups inside.
A strong driver was the need for
collaboration and interaction between
individual start-ups and with each other,
in addition to privacy for each start-up
to operate as its own business. With
this in mind, we created open spaces
and breakout areas, and smaller, private
meeting rooms.