Skip to menu Skip to content Skip to footer
News

UQ engineering building scoops architecture awards

24 June 2014
Decorative
UQ's award-winning Advanced Engineering Building. Photo: Peter Bennetts

The University of Queensland’s Advanced Engineering Building’s award-winning status was reinforced at the Australian Institute of Architects’ Queensland Awards this week (23 June).

The building won the FDG Stanley Award for Public Architecture, the GHM Addison Award for Interior Architecture and the Harry Marks Award for Sustainable Architecture.

The judging panel noted that the building, a joint collaboration by Richard Kirk and Hassell, expertly embraced setting and place and was a strong example of engagement with renewable resources and local industry.

UQ Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology Executive Dean Professor Simon Biggs said the building embodied the future of higher education.

“It is a spectacular building that sets a new standard in modern university space, promoting engagement and interaction for both undergraduate and research students,” Professor Biggs said.

“The reconfigurable and adaptable learning spaces match our ambition to provide a world-leading educational experience.”

Classed as a ‘live building’ – one that automatically adjusts air and temperature for the comfort of its occupants – it self-manages its energy output throughout the day.

Professor Biggs said the building’s designers had delivered on a challenging brief to create a building that embodied an interactive learning environment and offered the most advanced teaching methods for the engineers of tomorrow, while incorporating state-of-the-art green technology specifically suited to the Queensland climate.

Each day the building makes informed and calculated decisions to measure and monitor internal and external conditions, contributing to a 40 per cent reduction in annual energy consumption.

It provides students with best-practice models in action to monitor the environmental performance as part of the curriculum.

These learning spaces and research laboratories provide students with a powerful and active learning environment for improved teaching and learning.

“The sustainable design of the building is really important – sending a powerful message about how engineering must play a leading role in reducing our impact on the environment through clever design,” Professor Biggs said.

Learn more about the Advanced Engineering Building and how it is setting the benchmark at UQ in the 2014 edition of ingenuity.

Media: Madelene Flanagan, m.flanagan@uq.edu.au +617 3365 8525. 

Related articles

A suburban market scene

Strict regulations for street stalls a drain on vibrancy

Easing strict regulations around market and street stalls could help cities like Brisbane establish more vibrant and inclusive urban environments.
25 July 2025
A world map with hundreds of pinpoints across it

Queensland underground data reshapes our understanding of tectonic plate stress

The Earth’s underground stress patterns have been mapped in more detail than ever before.
24 July 2025

Media contact

Subscribe to UQ News

Get the latest from our newsroom.