UQ engineering building scoops architecture awards

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.