The new Engineering Innovation Building at Macquarie University positions engineering and astrophysics at the centre of campus life, combining adaptive reuse with new construction to support project-based learning.
Designed by Woods Bagot with strategic briefing by ERA-co, the facility reflects a shift in how universities approach STEM environments, placing curiosity, belonging and innovation at the core of the design.
“From the beginning, the question was simple: how do we create a building where students walk in and feel as though their engineering careers have already begun?” says Woods Bagot associate principal Alissandra Johnston.
The project retains elements of the existing 9 Wally’s Walk building, integrating them with a new eastern wing that accommodates high-service workshops and the Australian Astronomical Optics Integration Hall. This approach enables a mix of functions across the site, from dry labs and offices to heavy engineering spaces.
ERA-co strategic director Caitlin Murray says the client brief prioritised experience and engagement.
“I’ve worked in education consulting for 10 years, and Macquarie University had one of the best briefs I’ve ever seen,” says Murray. “They were really ambitious about the user experience. They told us they want to stop education from being a chore – where everyone’s favourite day of the week to be Monday, because students are so excited to come into this building and learn.”
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The design replaces conventional teaching spaces with open, studio-style environments. Murray says the building operates as a continuous workspace rather than a series of timetable-bound rooms.
Central to this approach are “sticky spaces”, as Johnston describes them – areas that naturally draw students to campus and encourage spontaneous interactions that fuel learning.
“When people have been working and studying from home, or able to do things remotely, you need spaces that are going to pull students together,” she says.
At ground level, the building is structured as a sequence of visible, flexible spaces. The double-height Makerspace places student work in direct view, while the central Field operates as a shared zone for study, testing fabrications and events. Informal terraces, an open forum and a suspended mezzanine observation deck create a dynamic, interactive atmosphere.
“We thought about the building as a series of stages, platforms for different modes of learning. You walk in and immediately understand how adaptable it is. Every space works hard, every volume is connected, and you can see activity happening everywhere,” says Johnston.
“We knew that we wanted to include viewing platforms in the communal space. It’s always going to serve its primary purpose as a university, but we were thinking about how the space would transform for exhibition nights or as a viewing platform for the robot wars that happen on campus. So, we included bridge links that are really open, with three-storey voids that allow students across each level to watch the action from the mezzanines above.”
Visibility is extended through glass-fronted student club garages, where engineering teams work on year-long projects within workshop bays that stand as miniature storefronts of ideas in progress.
“The garages are my favourite part of the building,” says Murray. “Each year, students compete to build the fastest human-powered vehicle. Each club has its own space with glass tilt-up doors, so the garages themselves become part of the exhibition. Anyone walking through can see the work evolving throughout the semester.”
The Integration Hall provides a direct link between education and industry. The three-storey facility allows large-scale astronomical instrumentation to be assembled and tested on site before being shipped to observatories.
“That Integration Hall is where our industry partners are building instruments for space that have never been seen before,” says Murray. “Students can look up from their own projects and think, that’s my career.”
Material choices reinforce the building’s dual function. The retained brick structure is upgraded, while the new wing’s façade introduces a triangulated metal system informed by both structural engineering and the surrounding tree canopy.
“Engineering has a boldness to it, but it also has a softness,” says Johnston. “We wanted the façade to reflect both, the structural clarity of trusses layered with the dappled light of the trees along Wally’s Walk.”
Using three different metal panels, the façade mirrors the density of the tree line in summer. In winter, its geometric folds catch the low sun and echo the branching patterns of bare limbs.
A new amphitheatre space, The Forum, connects the building to the public realm, creating a visible interface between campus activity and pedestrian movement along Wally’s Walk.
Inside the Field, exposed steel trusses support a run of sawtooth skylights that wash the building in soft southern light.
“The whole building is designed to break down hierarchy,” says Johnston. “There isn’t a single traditional lecture theatre. Instead, labs, studios and informal spaces overlap, so students and staff naturally cross paths.”
Woods Bagot director and global sector leader for education Sarah Ball says the project points to a broader shift in campus planning.
“The collaboration between ERA-co and Woods Bagot unlocked the 7C Network’s ‘Total Place Design’ approach,” says Ball. “Starting from first principles, we brought strategic placemaking and architectural design together to shape a facility that deepens the student experience and reinforces campus identity. The outcome for Macquarie University’s Engineering and AAO building exemplifies how thoughtfully designed spaces can engage, inspire and actively support a community of learners.”
The new Engineering Innovation Building at Macquarie University is expected to open to students in Semester 1 next year.