A New Great Hall for UQ
The formal entrance to the University of Queensland is rich with architectural history, defining an iconic horizon line that is globally recognised. The formatting of this precinct has been guided by the original Hennessy and Hennessy masterplan, which suggests the importance of a protected viewing cone around the iconic façade, and orientation of a central axis towards Brisbane city.
The brief required a great hall that was monumental in both form and experience – occupying the critical threshold adjacent to the Forgan Smith building. With consideration for the existing urban fabric and surrounding landmarks, the concept adopts the perspective that the monumental experience is already existing, and consequently the origin of the project is a direct response to the established urban fabric, where form and experience is guided by the respect towards the iconic horizon line, the ‘hill town’ tradition, and the value and purpose of the existing architecture.
This is achieved by rejecting the precedent typology of the addition of an ‘object in a landscape’. The project is instead a study of stereotomics – the subtraction of space to form an urban void.
Excavation offers an opportunity to develop the student narratives of the underground great court tunnels. A submerged hall becomes the embellishment of mystery and secrets lying beneath the pristine lawn. All is revealed upon graduation – providing a ritual experience that is specific to UQ
An important part of this contrast between mystery and function is the integration of the hall into the everyday fabric of university life. A subterranean structure offers opportunities for synthesis between Forgan Smith, Central Library, UQ Art Museum, and the proposed hall.
- The central library study steps are inverted to become an audience balcony that overlooks the hall.
- There was a small project in the basement of the Mayne Hall in the 90s which installed a function room intended for use before events in the hall -with a kitchen/ servery, and a formal back entrance into the building. This is reinstated to become the separated academics entrance from the west - from slip road and mill road, and also the function/banquet hall – with a courtyard carved out around an existing established tree.
- The hall defines a benched lawn terrace roof, accessible from the critical area of circulation in front of the Forgan Smith building. This becomes a flexible function space (market day), and has moments to peer down to the cavernous depths below, through skylights.
- The ritual procession is reinterpreted to originate at the specific faculty building of each cohort. The original masterplan defined an existing circulation ring beyond the Great Court complex. This becomes a processional route where graduands converge centrally from their own building to enter the new hall, framed against the backdrop of the existing architectural monuments. This is an existing route that requires minimal alteration, and allows for each faculty to host their own unique pre-graduation celebration. The ceremony concludes in a formalised dramatic ascent into the very heart of the great court.
Responding to a set of contextual constraints has led to a project that integrates boldy yet sensitively into the existing university fabric, while delivering a monumental, specific graduation experience that colourises a page in the student lore of UQ
