The scaffolding is coming down on the new, Frank Gehry-designed headquarters of UTS Business School, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, and excitement is growing about what this building will mean for Sydney and for business education.
The undulating brickwork is virtually complete and installation of the contrasting glass panels that also make up the façade is well under way. What's known in the building trade as “practical completion” is expected in October. Academic staff are scheduled to start moving in soon after, with the building to be fully operational from the first semester of 2015.
The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is significant for many reasons – and as much for what will go on inside as how it looks on the outside.
The new building will bring together under one roof staff from all five of the School’s core business discipline groups – Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing – encouraging even greater collaboration across disciplines.
Combined with the building’s world-leading facilities and technology, this will bring transformational change to the Business School’s research and teaching.
The Dr Chau Chak Wing building is the first building in Australia designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s most influential architects. UTS sought out Gehry as an architect because of his experience in the development of creative spaces, including educational facilities such as those at the Weatherhead School of Management, MIT and Princeton.
- See a time lapse video of the building’s construction here
- Follow #utsreveal on Twitter, where UTS staff, students and the broader community are documenting the unveiling.
- Do share your photos too.
“We wanted an architect who could embody our contemporary approach to business education in the design of our new building,” the Dean of the Business School, Professor Roy Green, says.
“Our task is to prepare students for a world that demands more than specialist expertise in a particular discipline. We aim to produce graduates who are ‘integrative thinkers’, who can combine traditional business skills with those from disciplines such as design and engineering.
“We wanted a building that would encourage greater interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas between disciplines, researchers, industry and practitioners.”
The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is part of the University of Technology Sydney’s $1 billion City Campus Master Plan, which includes the recently opened FEIT Building, home of the Faculty of Engineering and IT.
Located in the education and creative precinct at the southern end of Sydney’s central business district, the building will be open to all students but will have a focus on postgraduate and executive education.
Construction of the building's curved brickwork has been a technical feat. Inside, teaching, learning and 'social' spaces have been designed to encourage communication and collaboration. In the two architecturally striking oval classrooms, for example, the teaching focus has been moved from the front of the class to a position at the centre of the students.
A tiered, collaborative theatre can be quickly reconfigured for multiple forms of engagement – from traditional lectures, technology-enabled activities and group work.
The building is named for Australian-Chinese businessman and philanthropist Dr Chau Chak Wing, who donated $20 million to the project along with $5 million to create an endowment fund for Australia-China student scholarships.