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Vision’s Peter Hyatt spoke with design principal
Luke Johnson of Architectus to discover the ideas
behind a building of remarkable rhythms and finesse:
VISION This building is so completely different to its
neighbours and indeed most universities. It’s gentler,
visually and physically accessible and treads lightly.
LUKE JOHNSON The Incubator is really a transformational
piece of architecture on this campus. It’s one
characterised by a legacy of concrete buildings very
beautiful in their own way, but anchored in a period
of time. Part of our brief was to turn that all around and
to really create a place and a space that would facilitate
people coming together, working randomly, not really
knowing who they were going to meet, but with the aim
of accelerating their business ideas. With that we wanted
to integrate university research, industry partners, and
of course students, because students can have the
best ideas, too.
How would you define The Incubator’s role?
It was designed to foster and nurture young
businesses and their great ideas. Its campus location
is within the Macquarie Innovation Precinct where it
can draw upon the skills and expertise of industries
located around the university, as well as from the
experts available within research departments.
Let’s not forget students on campus either to
facilitate the acceleration of those start-ups out
into the marketplace as successful businesses.
Do you have a highlight moment?
There’s three really standout moments of experience in
this building. The first one is at the entry with a pivoting
large-scale door. That really draws people’s breath away
when it opens and offers a gene rous and engaging entry
experience. They’re suddenly aware of stepping across
the threshold into a new space. Then there’s a great
internal view connecting the two pavilions, and it’s a very
unusual proportion that expresses a sense of transition
from one place to another. And thirdly, I really love the
corners of these buildings because they all open out to
the landscape, and they all respond in a very sensitive
way to the bringing together of materials, and in this
case it’s glass coming together.