QUT Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct

Kelvin Grove Campus, Brisbane

The project is a model for educational precincts internationally setting a new benchmark for contemporary and sustainable design. The six level Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct building at QUT’s Kelvin Grove Campus in Brisbane also houses QUT’s centre for activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education studies and research, the Oodgeroo Unit, and connects to the existing QUT Library.

The Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct Building achieved QUT’s objectives for a memorable, state of the art, sustainable and connected facility that offered new teaching and learning opportunities in a stimulating environment.

Incorporating the very best in visualisation technology, a spectacular five metre diameter LED Sphere is suspended over two floors in the atrium and visualisation walls stream content that is accessible to students using their own devices.

Individually and collectively the learning and teaching spaces support future pedagogies that are blended, technology enabled and have a greater focus on the varying needs of individual learners.

These flexible and interactive spaces facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and the variety of learning modes - didactic, collaborative, discursive and reflective.

Social learning spaces sitting between the teaching spaces and the library complement and augment formal learning, ensuring that students can always find a unique place to study and collaborate.

The design of staff workspaces and the Oodgeroo Unit on the third level has achieved an integrated mix of distinctive and inspiring activity-based work environments in office ‘neighbourhoods’. These ‘neighbourhoods’ balance contemporary academia’s aspiration to be interdisciplinary, collaborative, accessible and transparent with the need for quiet reflection, security and personal space.

Consideration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural aspects informed the design of the Oodgeroo Unit, which include an outdoor garden space with yarning circle and fire pit for smoking ceremonies. 

The top level’s flexible corporate and professional education and function spaces boast city and parkland views.

The building has been intentionally designed incorporating sustainable principles including use of natural filtered light, glare reduction, high performance glazing and incorporation of nature to create a memorable experience on campus. The team’s design approach to sustainability was integrated and holistic. 

To achieve optimal protection from the elements of Queensland’s harsh climate, the upper envelope features perforated metal sun shades while, in contrast, the lower level’s translucent solar blinds, encased in a double glazed façade system, deliver abundant natural light and an unhindered view. 

As with all Wilson Architects’ projects, landscape integration was a priority for the design. 

The landscape responds to the variety of different conditions around the building. The atrium unifies the spaces into a cohesive whole with the use of natural green landscaped garden as a focal place within the heart of the building.

Bathed in natural light and incorporating lush sub-tropical planting, the atrium forms a central focal space which can be used as an informal community student space, an amphitheatre, event venue, a garden sanctuary or learning commons.

“The building is purpose-designed for the new generations of students and staff who have ever-changing attitudes and expectations about learning and their engagement with technology”

— John Thong, Director - Wilson Architects

Completed

2019

Client

Queensland University of Technology

Partners

Wilson Architects +
Henning Larsen Architects
in Association

Project Value

$94,000,000

Key Personnel

John Thong, Michael Herse, Hamilton Wilson, Luke Gavioli, Daniel Tsang, Annie Yen, Sophie Lorenz, Georgina Russell, Sarah Mahon, Ilka Salisbury, Jenny Yang, John Harrison, Lia Kim, Maddie Zahos, Michelle Duval, Alex Quah-Smith

Traditional Owners

Yuggera & Turrbal people

Awards

2020 AIA QLD Jennifer Taylor Award for Educational Architecture

2020 AIA QLD Award for Interior Architecture

2020 AIA QLD Award for Sustainable Architecture

2020 AIA Brisbane Regional John Dalton Award for Building of the Year

2020 AIA Brisbane Regional Commendation (Educational Architecture)

2020 AIA Brisbane Regional Commendation (Interior Architecture)

2020 AILA (Australian Institute of Landscape Architects) QLD Landscape Architecture Award for Health and Education Landscape

2019 A4LE Queensland Chapter Awards, Overall Award Winner

2019 A4LE Queensland Chapter Awards, New Constructions / New Individual Facility over AU $8 Million

2021 ALIA (Australian Libraries and Information Association) Library Design Awards, Highly Commended (Academic Libraries)