Vision and Strategy

Aerial shot University of Camperdown Campus

Arial view of the University of Sydney Camperdown Campus

Vision

Key objectives

1920s influence

Vision

Campus 2025 is the culmination of over a decade of debate, planning and design. In 1999, the University started considering a major capital improvement program to mark its 150th anniversary in 2025.

Campus 2010, the first program to be realised, will not only transform the campus but signal the beginning of an era of ongoing investment to ensure the development of a world-class campus befitting a world-class university.

Campus 2010 is a $250m capital development program which integrates many of the University's key infrastructure needs into a rich program of building, refurbishment and landscaping.

Key objectives

The following key objectives underpinned every decision made under the Campus 2010 Program.

Providing an environment to better support the University's learning, teaching, student experience and community engagement activities.
Delivering design excellence and flagship properties.
Achieving the highest possible environmental sustainability.
De-institutionalising the campus by presenting a more inviting facade to the community.
Ensuring that the benefits of the program touches as many members of the University community as possible.

1920s influence

Aerial view of the University of Sydney c1932
Image courtesy of Sydney University Archives

Arguably one of the most influential architects who worked on the University, Professor Leslie Wilkinson created a Master Plan for the University in 1920. The great value of this Master Plan was that it acknowledged, and successfully incorporated, features of earlier development, in particular the recognition of the University's location in relation to the surrounding city and suburbs.

Wilkinson's plan established planning axes which, combined with the strategic placement of buildings and gardens, created reference points and sight lines to make it easier to navigate the campus.

During the rapid building of the 1960s and 1970s, many of Wilkinson's features were eroded. Campus 2010 has recognised that there is a need to go back to the future - to reference the University's rich architectural heritage, in particular the 1920 Master Plan.

A return to Wilkinson's 1920s vision can be seen in the reinstatement of the connection between the Campus and Victoria Park via a grand flight of stairs descending from the Law School into the park. Campus 2010 also strengthens the Wilkinson planning axis from the City Road gates through to University Place (see diagram below).

Extract 1920 Master Plan Sydney University

Extract of Wilkinson's 1920 Master Plan
Original sight lines restored by Campus 2010 Project highlighted in Orange.
Image courtesy of the Wilkinson Family.

Key Profile

Leslie Wilkinson's 1920 Master Plan. Image courtesy of the Wilkinson Family

Leslie Wilkinson joined the University of Sydney in 1918 and was appointed University Architect in 1919. Wilkinson's major commissions for the University included his 1920 Master Plan (above), completion of the Quadrangle and the Physics Building - his undoubted masterpiece on campus.

Moving away from the neo-gothic architecture of the Quadrangle, Wilkinson's Physics Building reflected his classically-based style and the architecture of the Mediterranean which Wilkinson thought more suited to the Australian climate.

Sydney University Physics Building around 1924

Wilkinson's Physics Building around the time of its completion in 1924