Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The University of Technology Sydney has enlisted fjmtstudio to create a new campus building next to its existing premises, wrapped in a glass structure, to house the bulk of the social, student-focused areas, including a learning commons, the new UTS Library, scholarly reading room, collaborative classrooms, general teaching spaces, and a Student Services hub.

The architects have developed a sinuous architectural form and bold interpretation of UTS’s values and vision.

UTS Central has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The lower levels consist of a dramatic podium, overlooking Broadway to the south and Alumni Green to the north.

fjmtstudio’s decision to wrap the building entirely with glass can be extended back to Die Glaserne Kette ( The Glass Chain ), a series of letters written by members of a secret group founded by Bruno Taut in 1920 (a century ago, to be exact) in collaboration with prominent architects including Walter Gropius.

Clad in glass, the Central Tower looks like a solid diamond – perhaps in the spirit of Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein tower, a convincing analogy thanks to special techniques now available for double glazing, the aesthetics of which exceed the painterly transparencies associated with the modernist use of large glazing.

The design is also not expressionist, in spite of evidence that a few recent works of FJMT tend toward formal exploration that might demonstrate the influence of digital design techniques. The twisting and soaring tower of UTS Central is edited in reference to the regulating lines of both the frontal urban street and the UTS campus, while the geometry and cuts of the highly detailed and operable louver shading system of the Reading Room façade draw from the dialectics of organic and mechanic extant in nature.

Meanwhile, the upper levels take the form of a tower that twists and rotates as it climbs, in response to the surrounding building and site geometries.

The new building represents a character that is uniquely UTS, and respects and responds to the urban context of the existing Campus infrastructure and the Broadway streetscape.

The rotation and setback of Building 2’s form preserve the prominence and integrity of the adjacent UTS Tower, while the veil-like delicacy of Building 2’s façade serves as a juxtaposition to the existing Brutalist form.

The podium references the immediate city streets (Broadway) and the primary green space of campus (Alumni Green).

Positioned over the podium, the tower responds to both geometries, rotating at each level and decreasing in size as it rises.

Within this vertical campus, students and the public are able to connect between Alumni Green and Broadway, both visually and physically.

This creates a highly activated and permeable building that is welcoming that embraces density and creates a true city campus.

The triple-height atrium of the Reading Room is topped by a large skylight while the glass facade maximizes light and employs operable louvers for shading.

One of the features of UTS Central is the helix staircase. 

This spiral design will link the student floors, landing on opposite sides on levels four and seven.  

The helix staircase is a tribute to the DNA sequence and major breakthroughs in science and technology.

Prefabricated off-site and installed by Active Metal.

Project: UTS Central Architects: fjmtstudio Design Team: Richard Francis-Jones, James Perry, Elizabeth Carpenter, Daniel Karamaneas, Aliaksei Sakalouski, Gema Edo, Borja Pedrosa, John Perry, Cassandra Halpin-Smyth, Pei-Lin Cheah, Anna Szymanska, Michael Woodward, Brooke Matthews, Alessandro Rossi, Sean Pettet, Owen Sharp, Noel Yaxley, Cassandra Cutler, and Diana Rivero, Interiors Team: Lina Sjögren, Mariska Margaret Metchev, Prayrika Mathur, Miyo Stanton, Lauren Saull, Bianca Laurence, Landscape team: Phoebe Pape, Richard Tripolone, Maria Martinez, and Francesca Cazzetta General Contractor: Richard Crookes Constructions Pty Limited Client: University of Technology Sydney Photographers: Andy Roberts and Tyrone Branigan

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