Architecture studio Hassell has completed the Michael Kirby Law Building at Macquarie University in Sydney, organising its teaching spaces around a skylit, timber-framed atrium.
Located on the university campus to the north of Sydney's centre, the 8500-square-metre building replaces an existing two-storey administration centre built in the 1980s around an underutilised courtyard.
Hassell transformed the former courtyard into a large atrium, surrounded by a new four-storey timber structure that sits atop the existing concrete base.
Hassell has created the Michael Kirby Law Building in Sydney
"Our initial reaction was to solve the existing building's lack of connection to the broader campus," principal at Hassell Kevin Lloyd told Dezeen. "We recognised the opportunity to open up the existing building and provide additional floor space to create a vibrant new focal point for the university," he continued.
The Michael Kirby Law Building is entered from its north eastern corner, where the cylindrical form of a mock courtroom shelters a set of curved concrete steps.
The law school is organised around a skylit atrium
Inside, the atrium forms the social heart of the law building, with circular planters, wooden bleacher seating and a sculptural spiral staircase behind the reception desk.
Overlooking this central space, the timber grid of the structure creates balconies for the floors above and is infilled at points with glazed, pod-like meeting rooms.
It has an e...