Law School building
Start date: April 2007
Completion date: December 2008
Architects drawing of the new Law School
A new era for law teaching
A flagship building
Enhancing academic excellence
Creating a better campus environment
Relocation of previous occupants
Since the 1870s, the teaching of law at Sydney University, while closely allied with the legal profession, has been located in Phillip Street in the CBD to some extent isolating law from other disciplines within the University.
Relocating the Faculty of Law into the heart of the Camperdown campus will allow inter-faculty collaboration enhancing information sharing and debate.
The new Law School (yet to be formally named) will provide prestigious and well-equipped accommodation as benefits one of Australia's leading law schools as well as offering the highest quality teaching and learning and research facilities for all University students and staff.
With a frontage to Victoria Park (architects drawing left) and the CBD beyond, the new building will create a new gateway to the University. Lifting above the ground, the building is an open door rather than a barrier. It reinstates the visual link with the city that was a central part of Professor Leslie Wilkinson's campus Master Plan of the 1920s.
The building's main office tower includes a multi-storey glass bridge, forming an urban window between the city and the University. Throughout the building, breakout spaces, foyers and social areas enjoy the same views as the office space.
The seven-storey facade will consist of two layers of glass containing timber shutters which provide insulation and shade as well as complimenting the appearance of the nearby sandstone buildings.
On level three of the tower, an enclosed glass lobby overlooking Victoria Park, the Forecourt and the Quadrangle, offers an attractive space for functions and other gatherings.
The Law School has been designed by Richard Francis-Jones of Francis Jones Morehen Thorp (fmjt) - a past Sydney University medallist.
The brief for the new building included extending the teaching facilities for undergraduates, creating underground parking to allow Eastern Avenue to be transformed into a pedestrian boulevard and developing open spaces to extend and complement the Public Domain project.
The new Law School will be the most important building for the University since the building of the Great Hall and the Quadrangle, changing the face of law education in NSW, according to the Dean of Law, Professor Ron McCallum.
The purpose-built general teaching space, including computer based teaching laboratories, will be open to all academic and administrative departments within the University. Every aspect of the design has been carefully researched and delivers optimum desk size, sight lines and viewing angles.
All Faculty of Law undergraduate teaching, as well as some Masters coursework, will take place here and the new building will provide a valuable Moot (mock) Court to provide experiential learning for legal students.
With natural light provided by a dramatic light tower in the forecourt, the Law Library will consolidate the University's collection of over 170,000 volumes. This is one of the largest legal research collections in Australia and includes valuable historic material. The Law Library will feature computer labs, group study rooms and teaching spaces as well as spacious reading areas overlooking Victoria park.
The forecourt
A landscaped forecourt will provide a place for students and staff to meet, debate and exchange ideas. It will also provide an ideal location for graduation ceremonies, market-style events or open-air cinema screenings. The new forecourt is part of the Public Domain project and integrates the the Law School seamlessly into campus.
Simply paved, the forecourt will have planters along the north edge to provide informal seating. A new cafe to the south will be bounded by a Jacaranda tree and grassy lawns.
Underground car parking
The main office tower of the Law School incorporates two levels of underground parking with space for over 400 cars.
To make way for the new Law School the Edgeworth David building and the Stephen Roberts lecture theatre were demolished in 2006. Over 80% of the materials from these buildings were recycled including the valuable copper from the roof of the lecture theatre.
Teaching spaces will be relocated into the Law School and the Division of Geology and Geophysics will join the rest of the School of Geosciences in the newly renovated Madsen Building.
