VISION 44 — QUIET LIGHT
Footbridges, roof gardens and study-nooks-as-perches
all heighten the experience of discovery and diversity.
The mood throughout of subtraction and light builds
the tree-house experience, branching into the campus
and city itself.
Former students recalling racked fluorescent lighting
and hard-edged functionality will delight in the new.
When originally approached by the university about
the project, Lyons Architecture recommended that the
design solution would be enhanced with the input of
additional design practices – all RMIT alumni as it
happens. Lyons generosity and vision has paid dividends.
Practice principal and project leader Carey Lyon spoke
with Peter Hyatt about a design transformation from
darkness to light:
It’s a big project with a whole lot of work to do.
The university conducted student surveys
about the space and for years it rated very poorly. It’s
pretty unusual for a university to invest a significant
amount of money on non-academic space, but they have
basically rebuilt the centre of their campus with student
retail, library and informal study space so it’s all very
focused on giving back a great space to students.
VISION
CAREY LYON
You were responsible for the work of five practices,
not necessarily an easy task.
When the university approached us to bid for the project
we proposed we would be principals but collaborate
with five other emerging design practices. We said:
“Your campus is unique for us because it’s in the city and
all the spaces and buildings have this incredible sense
of diversity, so why don’t we build that into the structure
of the design team.” We actually put that to them, they
thought it was a good idea, so they appointed us.
We’ve worked for now five, nearly six years with the
other practices to deliver the project. We all agreed to
develop a concept masterplan with this structure and
arcades that really meshed the campus centre directly
into the city. Each practice was given a piece of the
project, literally as if you were designing a building on
a city street. It was a shared vision, but also with this idea
of different textual voices. When students move through
the project they can pick and choose because of the
diversity inherent from the different practices. Each one
brought a different sensibility. Everyone found their role
within the project team to work to their design strengths,
so it worked out really well.