VISION 46 — BABY GRAND
An Arcadian setting and flexible,
collegiate workspaces, all within
a pair of floating pavilions is some
springboard for aspiring movers and
shakers. Comparatively small but
defiantly different in concept, this
Incubator really is the Baby Grand.
Universities enjoy talking large. Growth signals
confidence, importance and the kind of justifiable
self-belief they might reasonably expect of their
graduates. But big isn’t always grand, and bold isn’t
necessarily better. And it’s why The Incubator at
Sydney’s Macquarie University – so exquisitely woven
into its landscape – is the rarest of workplaces to help
occupants think way beyond the box.
Situated on 126 hectares of rolling bushland and lawns,
the Macquarie campus at Macquarie Park 16 kms north
west of the CBD, has a reputation as a research driven
university in one of Sydney’s high-tech corridors.
Given the groundhog buildings widely beloved by
most tertiary institutions, the Incubator has gone from
‘temporary’ to ‘permanent’ in little more than the blink
of an eye.
It’s not difficult to see why, with high levels of occupant
amenity whether roaming around glowing, light-filled
interiors or finding repose on one of countless decks,
fringed by the kind of landscaping all too rarely achieved.
To the designer’s great credit the university has been so
enamoured that it scrapped plans to recycle or relocate
The Incubator, preferring to extend its life-span into the
foreseeable future.
PROJECT
The Incubator, Macquarie University,
Macquarie Park, Sydney
ARCHITECTS
Architectus, Sydney
PRINCIPAL GLAZING
Viridian ComfortPlus™
and PerformaTech™
TEXT, IMAGES & FILM
Peter & Jenny Hyatt