Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

Monash North West Precinct

Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke

MONASH NORTHWEST PRECINCT

Jackson Clements Burrows

STRUCTURAL
Arup

SERVICES CONSULTANT
Skm-s2ff

ACOUSTIC
Marshall Day Acoustics

MANUFACTURERS
Sculptform, Anderson Group, Webforge

BUILDER
Skm-s2ff

PHOTOGRAPHS
Peter Clarke

AREA
3700 M²

YEAR
2014

LOCATION
Keysborough, Australia

CATEGORY
University

Text description provided by architect.

The project involved the redevelopment of three tired 1980s buildings at Monash University’s Clayton campus.

Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke
Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke

The intention was to establish new informal and engaging learning hubs within the three buildings and to clarify campus wayfinding by creating new pedestrian ‘walks’.

JCB’s response was to reinforce the main campus intersection with a formal gesture incorporating folding and twisting concrete canopies, a theatrical stair and seating platforms.

The canopies provide shelter, entrance identity and a dramatic engagement with the student realm, allowing for moments of congregation, observation and contemplation from the vantage of the stair.

Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke
Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke

Themed interiors and informal furniture with complimentary material selections were used to de-institutionalise the interior spaces. 

The Student Services Desk is sculptural in form, eliminating the traditional linear counter anticipated within this type of facility.

A variety of work tables were designed for self-directed study or collaborative activities. Writable surfaces throughout encourage group learning. Throughout the building, visual links to the surrounding landscape and walks are maximized.

Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke
Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke

The upper floor schemes took the existing layout of a central corridor with perimeter offices and turned it inside out; open plan office areas, meeting rooms and ancillary spaces have been arranged in bays through the centre of the plan while the new circulation spaces run along the north and south facades, creating break-out spaces and informal seating areas along the perimeter.

The new facades were developed as a colourful ‘kit of parts’ to address solar shading, building identity and transparency.

Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke
Monash North West Precinct
© Peter Clarke

Mild steel shading loops and coloured fins were used to enliven and reinforce the existing structural rhythms of the buildings while the external colour scheme across the precinct sought to both reflect and abstract the surrounding landscape.


Monash North West Precinct
1st Floor Plan
Monash North West Precinct
2nd Floor Plan
Monash North West Precinct
3rd Floor Plan
Monash North West Precinct
4th Floor Plan


Monash North West Precinct
Elevation 1
Monash North West Precinct
Elevation 2
Monash North West Precinct
Elevation 3


Monash North West Precinct
Section

Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
T +61 3 96546227
Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
345 Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121, Australia