Marketplace and Underground open for business in Building 1
April 2014
The former food court and Glasshouse Bar on level 3 of Building 1 have been totally refurbished and reopened as ActivateMarketplace and The Underground this week after four-months of construction.
The new ActivateUTS space has received more than just a physical makeover, with students encouraged to interact with it in a different way.
“We see the Marketplace and Underground as creating a real student hub on campus, so students have a place to not only socialise but study after class,” said Angie Ruperto, Communications and Marketing Manager for ActivateUTS.
The inclusion of digital screens, data points, power outlets and various seating configurations – from large tables in the Marketplace to lounges in the Underground’s ‘Chalet’ – establish the new space as a learning and study area as well as somewhere to hang out with friends.
ActivateMarketplace features different seating, data points and power outlets to encourage socialising and study.
ActivateMarketplace features different seating, data points and power outlets to encourage socialising and study.
New look, new features, new function
In what is an obvious nod to its underground location and – more subtly – to UTS’s proximity to Central Station, staff and students navigate the new space via a ‘tunnel system’.
A brick archway provides a dramatic entry to the space and a number of different areas are located off a central passageway.
ActivateMarketplace: Replacing the old food court, the Marketplace is a large, open area comprised of colourful furniture, different seating arrangements (lounge nooks, long ‘kitchen tables’ and small café-style tables and chairs) as well as a range of food outlets. The space is filled with new data points and power outlets for laptops and phones.
Other areas within the Marketplace include Bites, a soon-to-be-opened fresh food outlet, the ‘Birdcage’, an aptly-named seating area complete with a ‘caged’ lighting feature and parrot wallpaper, Towers Marketplace, which replaces the former Union Shop, and ActivateHQ, formerly the info desk.
The Underground: This area has two distinct zones – a bar, stage and seating areas which will mainly be used for events, and an ambient, lounge area known as the ‘Chalet’. Comprised of eclectic lounge room furniture including lamps and rugs as well as digital screens and power outlets, this space is every bit as much a study area as it is a place to relax and socialise.
More to come
Additional seating will be available in the coming weeks as well as two more food outlets and pool tables.
A series of events to mark the opening of the new space will take place at the end of the month.
Architects Woods Bagot, the firm behind the redesign of the Building 5 A+B study spaces, was behind the design with UTS’s Facilities Management Operations (FMO) overseeing the project on behalf of ActivateUTS.
