UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY

 

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UTS - Photomedia Lab

The entrance to the photomedia lab displays the same information as seen though a camera lens, putting the environment into context right from the start.

Located in Haymarket in the Sydney South CBD, is the Design and Architecture (DAB) building that forms part of the University of Technology. In early 2009 the DAB facility underwent a major upgrade, primarily in the Fabrication Workshop and Photomedia Laboratory. Gardner Wetherill Associates redesigned the space into modern environments suited to an internationally regarded and highly reputed institution.

BrandCulture were engaged to advise on the opportunity to make these spaces reflect contemporary technology and culture, then to design and manage production to the highest standards.


THE FABRICATION WORKSHOP

The workshop is divided into three main areas; a 24-hour studio, the laser room and the main workshop floor. For OH&S requirements, the 24-hour studio workshop and laser room were required to maintain a clear line-of-sight across the workshop. It also required a level of division so occupants would not be continually distracted by other activities.

As a visual tribute to modern architecture (herzog&demeuron), the stretched form was created with a large dot screen running throughout to allow for visibility.

‘We are interested in the surface,” he explains, ”not as pure decoration but for its capacity to have an impact on the space.” With the addition of pattern or, at Dominus, of texture, a building takes on a different character under different conditions, emerging or receding as the light changes, becoming more solid or less substantial. ”So that it’s not the geometrical space you give it once and for all as an architect,” Herzog explains.

Despite the wall that has divided fashion and architecture, their progress in our time has been remarkably parallel. ”Clearly, all things in contemporary culture are related,” Herzog says. In clothes and in buildings, transparency has become one of the hallmarks of the 90’s, as fashion designers utilize chiffon, mesh and other sheer materials, and architects turn to glass, screens and scrims. Herzog speculates that in both cases the fascination is the same. ”It is always the curiosity about what lies behind or beyond or beneath the surface,” he says. ”The transparency creates a certain ambiguity, an interplay between the inside and the outside.”

See Herzog & Demeuron reference

The main workshop floor required a clearly delineated walkway for safety, this feature became the key graphic wayfinding interpretation. The system had to resolve two issues: to find machines by number; and to lead the eye to several displays celebrating the students work. The result pays tribute to modern iconic graphic styling with an engineering influence, featuring bold use of the flooring area.


PHOTOMEDIA LAB

Entering ‘through the lens’, the floor measures the focal length, with a red ‘in view’ line leading to three large, purpose-built light boxes displaying recent student works. Several walls are covered floor to ceiling with pin boards, used by students and teaching staff to review and collaborate on ideas and problem-solving techniques. These pin boards are etched with technical information used in photography, encompassing modern and traditional technology

Excerpt taken from the UTS DAB website 5.8.09

DAB is led by a senior executive consisting of the Dean, Prof Desley Luscombe, Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning), Louise McWhinnie, Associate Dean (Research), Dr Kees Dorst, and the Faculty Manager, Brian Glover.

The Faculty has three schools:

The Faculty also has an active research culture, which provides cooperation across the three Schools and encourages external partnerships through its research centres. Creative research and exhibitions in the Faculty are uniquely supported by DAB Lab.

Read more: University of Technology Sydney, Design and Architecture

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