New University building to glow and pulsate, is eco-friendly too

A NEW building chosen to ‘‘shock’’ and ‘‘awe’’ Sydneysiders will dominate the western entry into the city.

The ruling body of the University of Technology Sydney last night endorsed the winning competition design for its $170 million, 12-storey building, for its engineering and IT faculty.

With a knowing nod to future controversy, the university vice chancellor, Ross Milbourne, declared the building that will front Broadway as ‘‘the most significant piece of architecture in Sydney since the Opera House’’.

The building will glow and pulsate with embedded light-emitting diodes at night and will create a juxtaposition with its neighbours including the Carlton and United Brewery site, the former Fairfax office block and the brutalist UTS high rise tower.

Massive uneven aluminium shields strike out from the 12-storey building at acute angles, leaving giant gill-like slits to give the impression of a breathing entity. Binary coding – the foundation of computing and telecommunications – is laser-cut into the shields. The square zeros and dashed ones can be translated into ‘‘University of Technology Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology’’.

The walls and roofs visually merge into a single whole sculpture, albeit one with a five-star environmental rating. A giant, crooked crevasse cuts through the middle of the building to allow natural light to flood down on to pedestrians moving through the atrium and connecting internal walkways.

It is entirely funded by the university, although federal support is being sought for the overall master plan to increase the city campus by a third.

Professor Milbourne said he was shocked when he saw the entry by architects Denton Corker Marshall after the design competition jury presented a shortlist of six entries. ‘‘‘We walked into this room and all the panels for the six entries were up,’’ he said. ‘‘The Denton Corker Marshall building shocked me at first. But I kept coming back to it. I kept thinking this is fantastic. It spells out what we are about: technology innovation and creativity.’’

The design jury chairman, Graham Jahn, said the building was sublime and would transform the idea of the naked building. ‘‘It’s a surprising and artistic contribution. Over time it will be enigmatic and timeless,’’ said Mr Jahn, who is the past president of the Australian Institute of Architects and Guide to Sydney Architecture author.

‘‘I think it’s important that the people of Sydney feel confident enough to encourage new works of architecture and art which will redefine the cityscape and add layers of meaning and stimulation. We should reward difference and inventiveness over the pedestrian.’’

UTS has proposed several new buildings, a green, gallery and coffee shops that would be open to the public and new pedestrian walkways that would link the Broadway district with Chinatown and Darling Harbour.

The Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, saw the design yesterday, and said the building transformed the university, linking it back into the city in an exciting and imaginative way. Her office was impressed with its environmental credentials.

‘‘This is what university buildings should be like – innovative, progressive and sustainable,’’ she said.