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University of Melbourne Student Pavilion

Architect: KoningEizenberg Architecture
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Type: Student Centre
Year: 2024
Photographs: Peter Bennetts

The following description is courtesy of the architects. Driven by student input on diversity, gender equity, well being, and sustainability, the Student Pavilion provides a home on the University of Melbourne campus for students to study and linger. Located within the new Student Precinct, it expands services for commuter students by providing informal dining, study, arts, meeting and event spaces that they can use at liberty during the day.

Containing spaces that focus exclusively on welcome and inclusion, the Pavilion offers relaxed and robust settings for student life, free of classrooms. Occupiable outdoor spaces, projecting balconies, rooftop gardens, and exterior circulation on all levels to create a hub of visible activity.

The design of the building features an exposed concrete skeleton, combined with sustainably harvested wood, to create an exuberant and environmentally progressive identity. Shaped columns sculpt the interior spaces, rising from the ground to the rooftop to support the concrete floors and roof. The building’s expression is reinforced by the use of sustainable materials as well as visible passive and active environmental strategies. 

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Sustainable features and gestures of inclusion merge in the building’s most distinctive features: photovoltaics shade a rooftop landscaped outdoor space, large expanses of glazing offer visibility inside and out, seating spills from the indoors to the outdoors at all levels, wood siding highlights nature, and the circulation is organized to extend a strong invitation to all students that they are free to use the whole building.

The building is part of a master plan effort (designed in collaboration with local architects) to create a Student Precinct with updated campus amenities. The Precinct also aims to reinstate the precolonial landscape and highlight the cultural significance of its traditional owners. 

The University is pursuing a GBC Australia “6-Star” rating, equivalent to LEED Platinum.

Project Details

• Location: Parkville, Melbourne, Vitoria, Australia
• Completion date: February 2022
• Gross square footage:  27,000 SF (Pavilion only)
• Total construction cost: $23 million AUS (Pavilion only), $250 million AUS (Student Precinct)
• Client: University of Melbourne, Australia
• Environmental Rating: 6 star Greenstar (Australian equivalent of US LEED platinum

Project Credits

• Architect: KoningEizenberg Architecture
  • Project team:
    • Nathan Bishop AIA, LEED AP, Principal Lead Designer
    • Julie Eizenberg FAIA, LFRAIA, Founding Principal, Principal in Charge
    • Lily McBride-Stephens, Project Manager
    • John DelaneyAIA, LEED AP,Project Architect
    • Belinda Lee, Architect
    • Kara Biczykowski, Designer
• Architect of record (Student Precinct and Student Pavilion): Lyons Architecture
• Associate architect(s):
  • Student Precinct Masterplan
    • Lyons Architecture
    • Breathe Architecture
    • NMBW Architecture Studio
    • Greenaway Architects
    • Architects EAT
  • Student Pavilion
    • Lyons Architecture
    • Architects EAT
• Interior designer: KoningEizenberg Architecture
• Engineers:
  • Structural, Civil: WSP (formerly Irwin Consult)
  • Facade Engineering: BG&E
  • Code, Fire Engineering: Dobbs Doherty
  • MEP, Fire, Lighting: Lucid Consulting
  • Sustainability: Aurecon
  • Acoustics: Marshall Day
• Consultants:
  • Landscape:  Aspect Studios, Glas Urban
  • Low Voltage / AV: UT Consulting (formerly CHW)
  • Facade Access: Altitude
• General contractor: Kane Constructions Pty Ltd.
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts