School of Medicine & Research Centre, Western Sydney University
Education
Carey Lyon
Neil Appleton
The University of Western Sydney - Campbelltown Campus
Managing Contractor-Hindmarsh
Project Manager-Coffey Projects
Structural & Civil Engineer-Arup
Services Engineer-Bassett
Hydraulic Engineer-Alexander & Associates
Quantity Surveyor-Wilde & Woollard
Building Surveyor-McKenzie Group
Landscape Consultant-Taylor Cullity Lethlean
Builder - Hindmarsh Group
30 Western Sydney University, Narellan Road & Gilchrist Drive, Campbelltown NSW 2560
Located on the traditional lands of the Dharug, Eora and Tharawal people.
8,100m²
Complete, 2008
5 Star Green Star Rating
2008 World Architecture Awards, Shortlisted, Higher Education and Research
The need for highly-skilled and adaptable medical graduates who can meet our nation’s health challenges head on is perhaps more important than ever. Our design for the University of Western Sydney’s School of Medicine and Research Centre provides students and researchers an environment in which they can thrive with facilities that challenge and inspire trainee doctors to prepare them for their medical careers. The planning supports a salutogenic approach—maximising daylight, outlook and restorative landscape connections—while organising clinical teaching and research spaces for efficient daily operations. Won through a national design competition, the School of Medicine and Research Centre is an integrated medical teaching and research environment, designed based on principles of student centred learning and collaborative interdisciplinary research. Flexible teaching labs and write-up spaces enable teams to reconfigure layouts as research priorities evolve. In line with the University’s aim to establish and contribute to a grass roots local and Indigenous health service culture, our design for the foundational school establishes an iconic gateway to the campus, welcoming and attracting keen students, the best postgraduate researcher and teaching staff. A generous, connected ground plane invites community engagement while maintaining clear wayfinding and appropriate security for the school.
Driven by research ethics, we continually challenge and refresh our architectural research to ensure we continue to deliver state-of-the-art medical education and research facilities. This design is no exception, and on completion in 2008, the building was one of the most advanced medical training centres in Australia. Translational research is supported by co-locating researchers, clinicians and students around shared resources and informal collaboration zones. The four-storey development provides students and researchers with specialist teaching and laboratory facilities, including simulated learning spaces for clinical skills learning, an anatomy laboratory, problem-based learning tutorial rooms and state-of-the-art research equipment. The building’s futuristic design establishes Western Sydney University (WSU) at the forefront of 21st century medical education, and equips them to produce highly-skilled and adaptable medical graduates. Interdisciplinary laboratories and simulation suites sit close to teaching spaces to shorten movement and improve learning space optimisation.
Our design for the School of Medicine and Research Centre is the home base for medical students, academics, researchers and support staff. The four-storey building comprises four buildings with different purposes: lectures; specialist medical teaching; academic offices and school administration; and research. With approximately two-thirds of the medical students hailing from Greater Western Sydney, the development transforms healthcare for a significant portion of NSW’s population. This arrangement creates legible precincts with shared hubs for collaboration, mentoring and informal study.
“University of Western Sydney will be training extra GPs and specialists to work across Western Sydney’s hospitals and health services, as well as contributing to national research priorities, and providing further educational opportunities for the people of Western Sydney.”
Professor Wu, Acting Vice-Chancellor, Western Sydney University
Alongside the client’s educational objectives, a key idea behind this design is the creation of an iconic socio-educational external hub space. The hub space is formed by a curved link to create a super-foyer at the front of the building. This external room is covered with a tree-like canopy as an extension of the woodland to the north. Overlooking the hub are problem-based learning pods clad in recycled timber, like cubby houses, providing home room identity for the students. This central forum doubles as a climate-moderated threshold that extends study outdoors, supporting wellbeing through access to fresh air and greenery. The hub space acts as a gateway to the campus and creates common ground for the three different programmes (teaching labs, office accommodation and research laboratories) to discuss medicine. The hub is part of a strategic design solution that directly facilitates communication amongst students and researchers. Communication and the cross pollination of ideas is fundamental to successful research and learning. The hub also serves as an important resource for the wider campus. By concentrating shared amenities and circulation at this interface, everyday encounters foster collaborative learning and a strong research culture.
“This new medical school redefines the relationship between Country and Health education. We have designed a building which connects to the surrounding landscape and brings real social health learning onto country, within a dramatic central forum. Research spaces, academic offices and student learning are focussed and joined around this beautiful space, making for a holistic educational experience for staff, researchers and students alike.”
Neil Appleton, Director of Lyons.
Designed by Lyons in collaboration with Haworth Tompkins and Silver Thomas Hanley, the boundary-breaking ECU City campus was unveiled in 2021 and early works are now underway. Recently, Sean Henriques, Program Director at ECU spoke with Architecture AU on his experience working with Lyons.
As 2021 comes to a close, Corbett Lyon addressed the studio last week and reflected on the year that was.
The Emerging Architects and Graduate Network have invited architects to consider a message they would share with their younger selves, and this week they’ve shared words from Lyons Director, Carey Lyon.
Curtin University’s Midland Campus receives a 2020 National Award for Educational Architecture.
