New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 33/03C | Page 24

Project
Western Sydney University,
1 Parramatta Square
Location:
Sydney
Architect:
Architectus
Interior designer
Woods Bagot
HIGHER LEARNING
Quality open-plan office floors translate seamlessly into open-plan, egalitarian
learning spaces in the modern vertical university campus at 1 Parramatta Square
These pages:With the look of a
clean-lined, contemporary office
building from the outside, newly
built 1 Parramatta Square was
reworked at the design stage to
include a progressive vertical
campus and administration
offices for Western Sydney
University.
Contemporary office buildings offer open-plan
floors and plenty of natural light – attributes that it
turns out are also well-suited to other uses than
business. 1 Parramatta Square is a good example.
Initially, designed as commercial office space, the
building’s broad, open floorplates, large atrium, and
light-filled interiors proved equally ideal for a quite
different kind of tenant – it is now home to the
Western Sydney University (WSU) vertical campus
with its dramatic new style of learning environments.
Architectus won a competition to design the
podium and tower when it was first conceived as
an 15-storey A-Grade office building, says project
architect Colin Odbert. However, events overtook
and developer Charter Hall leased the nine-level
podium of the proposed building to Western
Sydney University as a new vertical campus.
“The reason the existing design was pursued
and tweaked to accommodate the campus was
because at the end of the university’s 15-year lease
it can potentially be returned back to commercial
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office space. If we had designed a university campus
afresh on this prime site, it would not have been
suitable for later occupation by business tenants.”
The shape of the tower and podium structure is
very much a response to its environment.
“The triangular podium maximises site coverage
and the tower cranks back to the west to sit below the
sun access plane, avoiding shading the heritage-listed
Lancer Barracks to the south east,” says Odbert. “The
building form also responds to the oblique geometry
of the Smith and Macquarie Street intersection.”
The services core is clad in a light terracotta
rain screen that evokes the sandstone prevalent in
many of Parramatta’s historic buildings. The core
is located on the west of the building shielding the
building from the harsh western sun. This allowed
for a highly transparent façade, without relying on
excessive external shading, and limited the energy
required to keep the interiors of the building cool.”
While the exterior retains the look of a modern
office building, on the inside several aspects of the