Joint Winner: Building Scale Category
Location: Dharawal Country,
Wollongong, NSW
Client: University of Wollongong
Typology: Education
Site Area: 2,491m2
Owner: University of Wollongong
Architect and interior design: Cox Architecture
Engineer: Tonkin
ESD Consultant: Cundall
Landscape Architects: Taylor Brammer Landscape Architects
The Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC) at the University of Wollongong (UoW), located in Dharawal Country, embodies the principles of biophilic design by integrating nature with the built environment to enhance human well-being. Nestled between the Illawarra escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, the Centre’s design integrates natural patterns, sensory richness, and transitional spaces that connect indoors and out. Framed vistas, varied textures, and sensory cues—inviting touch, scent, and sight—create a restorative environment where creativity and collaboration thrive.
As a multidisciplinary research facility, the SBRC tackles sustainability challenges by promoting health and creativity among its occupants. Its split design, linked by landscaped spaces, invites daily outdoor interaction, while living walls, large decks, and indigenous plantings seamlessly tie the interiors to the surrounding landscape. Recycled materials honour the site’s coastal heritage, transforming a once-neglected industrial site.
A post-occupancy analysis by Graduate Researcher at UoW, Jacqueline Thim, in partnership with COX, highlights the impact of this thoughtful approach: SBRC occupants report heightened well-being, creativity, and a deep sense of pride in their connection to a place that embodies sustainability in every detail.
Study Author: Laura Turner, COX Architecture
How is it Biophilic?
Visual Connection with Nature: The building provides ample views and vistas of the surrounding gardens, Puckey’s Estate to the east, and the Illawarra escarpment in the distance.
Non-Visual Connection with Nature: Previously a low-grade fill site, the courtyards are now part of the pre-development ecology, filled with birdsong, the chirping of insects, the sounds of wind rushing through leaves, and waves crashing on the beach.
Biomorphic Forms and Patterns: A wing shade is inspired by the sea eagle. The flared shape of the structure reflects the wings of the predatory bird, with individual horizontal slats representing the feathers.
Connection with Natural Systems: The living walls’ continued growth and occasional dying off reflect the processes of nature, continually growing towards the light, responding to the immediate environment, and utilising the resources given to it: water, light, and air.
Non-Visual Connection with Nature: Tactile materials invite touch.
Historic Connection to Place: Recycled local bricks, steel, and timber provide opportunities to share stories of place.
Connection with Natural Systems: The intimate environs of the bush tucker garden encourage occupants to discover, harvest, and taste the home-grown fruits and vegetables, witnessing the miracles of nature.
Cultural Connections to Place: Planted with indigenous species inspired by the adjoining Puckey’s Estate plant community that are valued for food and medicine, the gardens connect staff, students and visitors to indigenous cultural heritage
Biomorphic Forms and Patterns: Y-columns bookend the Centre; tapered forms that share a tree-like quality, yet the clean white finish avoids any ambiguity about their origins.
Visual Connection with Nature: A balustrade detail in the entrance lobby, composed of wood and laminated glass, which lets light pass through, resembles the texture of the endemic bluebottle jellyfish.
Non-Visual Connection with Nature: During summer and spring, building interiors fill with the fragrance of salty sea air, the tang of coastal dune plants, and the scent of citrus blossoms.
Dynamic and Diffuse Light: Daylight fills the internal spaces where people linger, allowing students and staff to experience circadian benefits.
Dynamic and Diffuse Light: Occupants connect to the daily and seasonal variations in weather, and the passing of clouds and changes in light throughout the day can be observed through clerestory windows.
Visual Connection with Nature: White mahogany weathers with the patina of time.
Exploration and Discovery: The desire for exploration and discovery is satiated in the exhibition space and meandering garden paths, punctuated by educational signage.
Connection with Natural Systems: Splashes of colour in flora, and the fauna that appear in the gardens, mark the seasons.
Exploration and Discovery: Curiosity is sparked and rewarded upon approach; the weaving of the pedestrian spine under the canopy entices visitors to explore.
