The Engineering and Innovation Place at James Cook University has been recognized with the prestigious 2025 Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture, marking a significant achievement in contemporary educational design. The award-winning building represents an exceptional piece of educational architecture that seamlessly blends Indigenous knowledge with modern learning environments while respecting the university's original master plan.
The jury praised the building as being "deeply grounded in Indigenous knowledges of place" and noted how it thoughtfully considers the university's original Stephenson and Birrel Master Plan while embracing its crucial role in transforming the campus into a contemporary learning environment. The collaborative effort between Kirk, I4 Architecture, and Charles Wright Architects has resulted in an innovative design that maximizes the opportunities presented by its tropical context while meeting the demanding pedagogical requirements of a hardworking university facility.
The building features highly responsive and adaptive learning spaces, with peer-to-peer informal areas strategically arranged around a central atrium that can be opened directly to the main campus thoroughfare. This design creates a dynamic flow between indoor and outdoor spaces, encouraging natural interaction and collaboration among students and faculty. The central atrium serves as both a gathering space and a connection point that integrates the building with the broader campus community.
A particularly impressive aspect of the facility is its vertical assembly of research spaces, beginning with an exciting prototyping warehouse on the ground floor and extending upward through highly functional laboratories that provide clear visibility into ongoing activities. These transparent laboratory spaces allow passersby to observe the research and innovation taking place inside, fostering a culture of openness and academic curiosity. The design culminates in the truly innovative Multi-Modal Studio, described as "a beautiful room that shifts effortlessly from public lecture space to function room to incidental study space."
The building's exterior features an articulated facade crafted from zinc and timber, creating deep shade as an immediate response to the tropical climate. However, this refined exterior conceals a highly innovative facade system that leverages cyclonic construction techniques to reduce the need for extensive core concrete structure. This approach demonstrates how architectural beauty and structural innovation can work together to create more efficient and climate-appropriate buildings.
Located in Douglas, Queensland on Bindal and Wulgurukaba Country, the Engineering and Innovation Place was designed by a comprehensive team led by architects Kirk, I4 Architecture, and Charles Wright Architects. The project team included Richard Kirk, Jonathan Ward, Andrew Magub, Caryn Streeter, Catherine Liu, Charles Wright, Jon Larrazabal, George Stratford, Michael Croft, Andrew Costa, Sascha Beck-Harris, Fedor Medek, Kyle Chen, Francesca Sweetman, Lemuel Arellano, Alex Ward, Gergely Szabo, Courtney Albertini, Cathy Hua, Michael Martin, Alex Collins, and Adelaide Hampson.
The successful completion of this ambitious project involved numerous specialized consultants and contractors, with Besix Watpac serving as the builder. Additional expertise was provided by Robert Bird Group for structural, civil and traffic engineering; WSP Group for mechanical, hydraulic and vertical transport consulting; Introba for electrical, lighting and AV systems; Building Envelope Group for facade engineering; and D Squared Consulting for environmental sustainable design. Other key contributors included Marshall Day for acoustic and vibration consulting, McKenzie Group Consulting for building certification and access consulting, Holmes Fire for fire engineering, Cetec for hazardous goods consulting, RPS for landscape architecture, Dot Dash for signage and wayfinding, and Urban Art Projects for public artwork.
The jury concluded that the Engineering and Innovation Place marks an ambitious new phase of campus development for James Cook University and sets a new standard for tropical architecture in Australia. The building was reviewed by Helen Norrie and featured in Architecture Australia's September/October 2024 issue, with photography by Andrew Rankin and Peter Bennetts. This recognition through the National Architecture Awards highlights the project's significance in advancing educational architecture and its potential influence on future university building design across Australia's tropical regions.
