Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, AUS, John Wardle Architects & NADAAA

Awards: Hanson's Green Building Award, AIANY Honor Award for Architecture, Interior Design Excellence Awards, Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture, Structural Awards and more

Image: Peter Bennetts

The University of Melbourne in Australia received a fantastic new School of Design (MSD) for the beginning of term in March 2015 following its December 2014 completion. The state-of-the-art academic building was designed by John Wardle Architects (Melbourne) in collaboration with NADAAA (Boston) students and staff education and research.

The MSD has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design - Education Design v1 rating by the Green Building Council of Australia and is the first education facility to be awarded the maximum 10 Green Star innovation credits.

Image: Peter Bennetts

The infrastructure such as a steel mesh balustrade and open top gallery provide sight lines and unity between the floors. Further exposed materials add to the grandeur of the interior, for instance the under section of the Y-Stairs, which shed light on construction techniques.

The building has been awarded an impressive amount of prizes for its sustainability, design and architecture. I have noted a handful above but these also include for 2015: Australian Timber Design Award, Best Commercial/Institutional Architecture Over 1,000 Square Metres, Award for Public Design at Australian Interior Design Awards and Institutional Built.

Image: Peter Bennetts