university of auckland business school

With its glass and titanium blades slicing through the skyline, the University of Auckland’s new Business School is sure to become a talking point for both locals and visitors to the city alike. Justo Diaz, Emeritus Professor of the school, says the building, which includes approximately 28000m2 of teaching, learning and research spaces, is already a stand out feature for the campus. Previously the Business School had been housed in eight separate buildings.

“We wanted to develop a culture of collaboration and [housing the school] in one building was the obvious solution,” explains Diaz.

The $220m school was a long time in the making. Diaz and Business School Dean Professor Barry Spicer started working on the proposal for a new school in 1999. To reflect both the need for collaboration and also a globally influenced design, one stipulation for the open tender design competition held was that a locally based company would team up with an international firm. Australian architectural firm Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FJMT) and Auckland firm Archimedia came on board in 2000 when their design was selected. Diaz says the FJMT + Archimedia design stood out as being distinctive and iconic in both shape and concept.

According to Archimedia’s Neil Martin, the relationship of the spaces and how they would inter-relate was the primary consideration in the design and also one of the biggest challenges. With a variety of different user groups from new entry-level students to post graduates and staff, the needs were many and varied. The sheer numbers of students and staff would put considerable pressure on the interior of the building. All interior designs of course must take their cue from the physical structure, which was in this case partially determined by a difficult sloping site.

“It’s very beautiful with particular qualities sitting on the edge of a gully with significant topography and terrific views out to the harbour, Rangitoto and across to the domain,” says Richard Francis-Jones from FJMT remembering when he first stood on the site. “Even though it is a tight urban site the presence of this natural landscape provided the opportunity to create strong connections and became very important [in the design]. This led us to develop a series of organic ribbon forms that define the open spaces as well as orientate some of the key interior spaces towards specific views and connections.” The design response was to order the space in a vertical arrangement over seven levels creating internal atrium spaces to give interconnectivity between the various parts. In order to get maximum bang for buck the project was expanded and in 2004 the size of the podium the school sits on was doubled in size. This allowed for the inclusion of two 600-seat theatre buildings and additional underground parking space - now spread over five levels offering over 1150 spaces.

The Business School is primarily entered via the top of the podium, which drew its inspiration from the desire to make a new public space on the campus also responding to the traditional space required for powhiri. In some ways it is impossible to separate the exterior from the interior design. Both spaces influence each other connecting in an easy give and take as the black concrete pavers outside lead through the sliding glass doors as an extension of the forecourt dissolving into a more refined internal finish of granite tiles with basalt inlay leading into the ASB Atrium.

The Atrium space, which rises from level 1-6, is the most important internal space within the structure as it both visually and physically connects and unifies all the floors. The space was scaled to create two interconnected volumes: the lower atrium is created through the positioning of suspended bridges and is related to the teaching areas while the upper atrium creates a ‘vertical street’ and unifies the academic floors. A café with seating and tables provides an important opportunity for students and staff to mingle.

Archimedia’s Heidi Sinclair, says the new furniture throughout the building was chosen taking into account the University’s standards of durability and its ability to be used in any part of the building allowing for greater flexibility.

“Students tend to manipulate their environment a lot so the furniture will be distributed in different ways every time you come into the building,” smiles Sinclair. Floor to ceiling glass windows in the Atrium and between the radiating wings create extraordinary views giving a magnifying effect as they draw the outside into the interior. The abundance of natural light provides an economy on energy consumption and is successfully balanced by a palette of black, grey and silver punctuated with flashes of bright red. “The strong black base has been an influence on materials and continuity of interior and exterior. Black refers to volcanic basalt and although it has commonly been used on buildings we have tried to get an intensity of black that you don’t often see,” explains Martin.

Carpet tiles in the large student areas provide a nice textural contrast with the smoothness of the tiles, glass and composite metal wall panels. The use of tiles is a practicality and allows for easy replacement. As an added bonus the manufacturer Interface takes used tiles back and recycles them. From the Atrium, a series of steps and seating areas creates an informal internal ‘amphitheatre’ space at the heart of the school and leads down to the auditoriums, which have been nestled within the ground, as they do not require natural light. Break out spaces enable students to work together in a collaborative environment while couches allow for more relaxed and informal situations. Around the walls 1.5m backlit panels have been commissioned to portray significant business people and corporations in the history of Auckland. This will include donors to the building such as Owen G Glenn, who made the single largest private donation to education in New Zealand when he donated $7.5m to the Business School.

American maple timber feature walls encase the central 300-seat theatre and gives a sense of warmth in the lower ground floor, that has minimal daylight. All of the services (lighting, air conditioning, speakers etc) have been concentrated in the recesses of the ceiling to break up the area visually and to enable ease of access. With a 150-theatre, two 300-seat theatres and two-600 seat theatres when the floor is fully loaded there can be around 5400 students circulating in this area. Around the perimeter walls are study and support break out rooms for tutorials. The sheer variety of spaces and seating arrangements within these and the theatres allows for a range of uses and teaching styles and encourages collaboration between staff and students.

The audio-visual and IT infrastructure was a big part of the design. Interactivity and engagement with technology was about students both using and seeing cutting edge technology throughout the building. For example outside each theatre plasma screens keep students up to date with the schedule of lectures to be taken in the particular theatre. Inside the theatres, lecterns contain electronic touch pads to control lighting and equipment. A document camera also situated on the lectern allows the lecturer to place notes underneath to be projected onto large screens replacing the need for an overhead projector. In the larger theatres additional cameras are mounted around the room to film proceedings when desired. This technology also allows lectures to be streamed live on-line and may eventually change the nature of how students study.

“Large lecture theatres are increasingly becoming white elephants. It also allows us to have outstanding people teach a class from anywhere in the world,” explains Diaz.

A separate outdoor staircase separates the lower from the upper levels, which contain the post-graduate teaching spaces and staff offices (these can also be accessed via the central internal staircase or lifts). Level 2 houses the post-graduate students. On this level students circulate on the outside of the space with tutorial and study rooms internalised.

“People spend more time outside the rooms so light and access to the air and space [for everyone] is important,” explains Martin.

This also allows students to enter an internal room if they need to focus free of distractions. A student lounge on this level looks more like an up-market café or bar and sits out over level one where students can make a coffee, relax or access the internet on their laptops via the school’s wireless internet system.

“Generosity of spaces, where they are situated and how attractive they are sets this building apart and will hopefully support and encourage the collegiate, academic culture of the school,” thinks Martin.

A distinct absence of books in the resource centre located on this level reflects the changing nature of study. Information is now largely accessed in digital format or online apart from journals, newspapers and magazines. The high degree of transparency in the design achieved through extensive use of glass, office arrangement and the bridges means it would be difficult to avoid somebody if you wanted to.

“It allows people to meet by chance and discuss things as innovation happens when people bounce ideas off each other,” explains Martin.

Teaching, research and general staff offices are located on levels 3-6 and include traditional single person offices leading to an open plan spaces at the end of the wings to encourage staff to work together rather than shutting themselves off. This is further encouraged with kitchenettes at the ends of the social hub bridges providing meeting places. A combination of air conditioning and operable windows in single occupant offices enhances the air quality and provides occupant control of their environment. A restaurant and multi-functions conference room on level three caters to students and staff and also any functions held at the school.

The aim of building the new Business School was not only to improve linkages between students and staff but also between Auckland University and the local and international business community. This has partially been achieved by creating facilities and spaces that can be hired out such as the 750-seat Fisher & Paykel Auditorium which opens out onto a foyer leading to a vast outdoor deck overlooking the domain. For students large plasma screens located here encourage interaction and feature real time information such as displays of world news and business school information. On the exterior facade of the building the series of layered sinuous blades not only provide a dramatic sculpture of reflection and illumination as the sunlight bounces off them, but also symbolically sum up the aspirations of the interior design and the building as a whole - to reach out to embrace the community and create an environment of interaction and collaboration for many years to come.