The five-storey museum was created to consolidate the University’s Macleay, Nicholson, and University Art Gallery collections. This has transformed their use and integrated them into a new purpose-built museum facility, making possible the showcasing of some of Australia’s most significant artistic, scientific, and archaeological artefacts.
The Chau Chak Wing Museum (CCWM) is in the Northeastern Sector of the Camperdown Campus at the location of the old tennis courts adjacent the Quadrangle Building. The 7,700sqm museum houses eight separate galleries, interactive learning spaces, a café, a gift shop and a secure basement storage facility. CCWM has become the focal point for University-wide cultural outreach.
A key feature of the building is the striking concrete box structure which cantilevers 14m to the south, overlooking the city skyline. The builders expertise was demonstrated in how they delivered on design, and specifically the concrete box structure, with the University’s Chief University Infrastructure Officer Greg Robinson stating, “The architectural aspirations of the building have been delivered without compromise, showcasing some of the finest off form concrete finishes – externally and internally – that we have seen in NSW.”
CCWM adopted numerous innovative and bespoke construction techniques that were devised and adopted to create the Museum’s most striking feature - the large, floating, concrete ‘Box’ perched atop its glass and sandstone podium.
The ‘Box’ is a complete in-situ construction methodology that was limited in terms of pour breaks, deflection, and propping during construction to ensure the quality was achieved with limited cracking and deformation.
The podium is, in fact, an array of concrete elements that were precast off site, with the structure then built over it.
The judges felt that from the tinted, precast elements that feature in the lower half of the CCWM building, to the ceiling of the Entry level with all the cast-in services, through to the cantilevered box itself, concrete features both prominently, and yet is unobtrusively elegant. This timeless construction project will endure for generations to come. It was a clear winner in this category.