UTAS Forestry receives World Architecture Award

Last week the UTAS Project Forestry Building received the top award for “Future Project in Education” at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore, a project which REALMstudios collaborated with Woods Bagot. An incredible achievement for our studios, showcasing an explementary project within the UTAS Hobart City Campus.

At the core of the project is the idea of ‘forest’ within the atrium structure. This is the place that unites different activities, people, and from where the energy of Kunanyi flows. This idea has been linked to the presence of water, important life sustaining places where people would traditionally gather. The buildings form a ‘village or campus’ around the central landscape .

Within the campus building, the landscape, is a shared space, and is closely connected to the shared functions of the buildings, flowing out to the discrete spaces, and further, reaching into the broader precinct and connections (whether physical, visual, or philosophical). A landscape that crosses the boundaries of indoor/outdoor space, a landscape sheltered and protected.

The project objectives established in REALMstudios work on the City Campus Urban Design Framework are to revitalise, adapt and activate the site through a highly connected masterplan that honours heritage, celebrates natural landscape, and accommodates the diverse teaching needs of the University. This combines several innovative and experimental approaches to resilient and sustainable design while restoring and reviving an iconic piece of local heritage.

This marks the second award for the project from the World Architecture Festival this year, having also being recognised with the WAFX Award for Building Technology. Congratulations to all who have made this project possible.