A green heart for Macquarie University — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

ASPECT Studios’ design for the Central Courtyard Precinct at Macquarie University provides a new green heart for the Sydney School.

A series of historic masterplanning alterations had diminished the precinct’s functionality, but ASPECT have restored and reestablished it as the campus’ primary precinct.

ASPECT Studios’ design for the Central Courtyard Precinct at Macquarie University. Image credit - Brett Boardman.

“The new precinct turns the outdoors into a robust and generous venue for study, recreation and relaxation,” say the designers.

Macquarie University’s existing campus is a collection of Modernist and brutalist buildings arranged around a rolling landscape, with courtyards, trees and other features that form a diagrid echoing the original 1960s plan for the campus by architect Wally Abraham.

The design for the Central Courtyard Precinct at Macquarie University provides a new green heart for the Sydney School. Image credit - Brett Boardman.

A tree-lined central courtyard now forms the centrepiece, and is intended to perform multiple roles: as a place for community to gather and meet, a place for performance, a facilitator of cross-campus connections, and a physical and visual connection to the surrounding landscape of Mars Creek.

The courtyard is fringed by trees positioned to offer shade in the summer and maximise solar access in the winter, and a large-scale water feature cascades down the graduation stairs.

A former tree grove of Eucalyptus citriodora were in poor health and required removal. Fraxinus ‘Urbdell’ were chosen for the outer edge, and Flindersia bennetiana for the inner edge, because they would establish trees of consistent form and scale from installation.

Layers of native and exotic planting have been added to the understory, and species with spreading canopies help reduce urban heat. This planting, “adds texture and a certain rhythm to the spaces, creating more intimate and lightly defined spaces within the courtyards for groups to gather or for individuals to seek respite.”

A series of historic masterplanning alterations had diminished the precinct’s functionality. Image credit - Brett Boardman.

Benches, moveable tables and seats, and integrated raised edges provide spaces for students to use, and amenities for exercise, games and large open spaces, “ensure a constant hum of activity throughout the precinct.”

An elevated lawn provides space for sport and recreation, as well as live performances. An amphitheatre adjacent to Mars Creek offers space for events including theatre, movies, lectures, ceremonies and workshops.

The new precinct turns the outdoors into a robust and generous venue for study, recreation and relaxation. Image credit - Brett Boardman.

Mars Creek and a system of underground pipes have been restored and rehabilitated, creating a picturesque landscape and repairing the natural environment. An abundance of fauna has returned since the creek has been rescued from its underground warren, enhancing the biodiversity and urban cooling effect of the development, while reuniting the built campus with its natural surroundings.

The underground network of pipes needed to be upgraded as a requirement for building and stormwater management, so the project team utilised this opportunity to restore and rehabilitate Mars Creek as a daylight system beyond merely providing an overland flow path.

“The precinct project as a whole works to integrate student values and improve their educational experience,” say ASPECT Studios. “The result is a green heart for the Macquarie campus that will support students socially and emotionally throughout their journey. The new precinct expresses the vision and aspirations of the university and creates a place that will set out to make a lasting impact on the student body and community.”