10 Coolest Features of UTS Central (aka Building 2)

Guest blogger Jack Bulfin is one of the UTS Property Economics students who recently got an overview of the UTS Central project from Senior Project Manager Dane Sinclair. Here are the ten coolest things he discovered.

 

1.    FFS: Fast Food Service

UTS Central will have a brand new food court! Many students now head to Broadway shops or the markets at Quay St, as the space in Building 1 is in high demand. The new food court will provide excellent variety and quality, as well as lots of additional space. It’s long been a dream of students and come 2019 it’ll be real!

2.    A viewly amazing library

UTS is about to get a library truly Snapchat worthy, with a glass façade spanning across  the Alumni Green frontage and a reading room with a three level glass atrium, the new library won’t just have plenty of books and light, it’ll have plenty of fantastic, aesthetically pleasing, backdrops for your “Study Streaks”.

3.    The building is hotter than you (literally)

The building is officially hotter than you; the concrete is so hot when poured that the heat on a structural column could radiate for up to five days post pour! This high heat intensity concrete pour ensures the strength and durability needed for a high rise of this magnitude.

4.    Double helix stair case

Once you enter through Jones St, you’ll find yourself in awe of an absolute technological marvel - the double helix stair case. Rising four floors, the first elements of this masterpiece were installed in May. Envisaged initially by architects FJMT, the staircase is being constructed out of steel, trucked to site and lowered into place by two massive cranes.

5.    Leaning Tower of UTS

Building 2 features 113 structural columns, all on angles. These columns were formed out of concrete and used a revolutionary method to remove air bubbles. The concrete was poured into “Formatube” moulds, then a vibrating instrument was lowered through a cage where it could vibrate the air bubbles out of the concrete. Shaken, not stirred – just like a Bond martini.

6.   A sightly site

Yes, you can brag to your friends that go to a certain sandstone uni down the road who love to talk about their facilities ;) because UTS is a leader in design and technology and is reflecting that on Broadway with cutting-edge buildings. UTS Central isn't just about cool staircases and fast food. The redevelopment of Building 2, following the recently developed Central Park and our Faculty of Engineering and IT Building (aka ‘the Cheesegrater’), is part of a bigger push to revitalise the area. This precinct will form a new alive and revived southern gateway to the CBD.

7.    Holy truck!

On the biggest day of concrete pouring, 93 trucks visited Building 2 to pour more than 560 cubic metres of concrete over nine hours. The team used high-tech positioning systems - and old school radios - to coordinate the trucks as they made their way from their departure facility through Sydney’s traffic to the site at UTS.

8.    Thick and curvy

The building’s so thick it’s able to support some pretty massive teaching spaces, including up to 250 seats in the largest science lab and 350 seats in the largest auditorium! The building has also got sensuous curves and no two floors of the podium are the same. The structure twists around itself as the tower rises, dynamic internal shapes feature throughout the podium.

9.    Legally brilliant, scientifically home

Confirmed to move into this remarkable building is none other than the Faculty of Law! Now not only donning the coolest garb, the Law faculty will also be found in the coolest new building, and who would be better to co-share than the Faculty of Science  and the Faculty of Engineering and IT? Thankfully for the rest of us, there are common learning areas, a food court and the library that are open to everyone!

10. So environmentally friendly it’d make an eco-warrior green (with envy)

The building is technologically advanced and targeting a 5 Star Green Star rating. Intelligent sensors will count the occupants of rooms and adjust air conditioning accordingly. There's even future potential for predictive changes, using Bureau of Meteorology data the building could sense weather changes and intuitively adjust accordingly.