If you’ve ever been to the old law school building in the city at St James, you’ll probably agree that while it may have had great location, location, location, it was most definitely a renovator’s choice find. Cockroaches, temperature variations never thought possible on planet Earth and utterly-frustrating swivel chairs will thankfully be a thing of the past (mostly anyway – some classes will still be taught at St James). So rejoice, and explore the new law building with me.
Yes, UNSW has one, and now we too are blessed with a Freehills Law Library. Compared with the law library of old, the Freehills Law Library is a taste of heaven; the high ceiling and the generous use of glass creates a light, airy feel that contrasts well with the old browns and greys. It’s also roomy; well-equipped meeting rooms are now aplenty.
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the images.
The SciTech Library – not far away – set rather high standards and it was always going to be hard to beat; the law library is a modern library with modern facilities, but frankly, it doesn’t exude quite the same vibe. Although there are rare splashes of colour, it comes across as somewhat subdued (perhaps well suited for law?). And that thing sticking out of the ground next to the Fisher stack? It is, in fact, the top part of the centrepiece of the library, a column of light befitting the grandest of public libraries.
It’s surprising how much of the law school is underground. The library is mostly underground, and apart from the small section adjacent to the Eastern Avenue complex, most of the teaching space is also underground. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for me to look inside the new seminar rooms, but I can say that the corridors were spacious, allowing for an efficient flow of traffic.
Let’s step outside for a moment. On the left-hand side, you can see the top part of the library’s column of light. The above-ground levels of the law school have, just inside of the glassy exterior, angled wooden panels, or perhaps large wooden blinds. I must say that the extensive use of wood as a decorative feature in such a modern building does seem a little out of place to me. One interesting feature is the plaza underneath the building that slopes towards Victoria Park; the idea is to connect the university to the rest of the city.
The above-ground levels also make good use of natural light. Student administration is conveniently located one level above ground, and the use of the bridge between the two halves of the building as a common meeting space should prove to be a popular idea.
There’s little doubt that the new law school is an improvement on the old, in terms of the facilities for staff and students. Aesthetically though, I was somewhat taken aback by the lack of warmth on display, the discordance of the wood alongside the glass and the bizarre oracle that is the above-surface portion of the library’s column of light. At the very least, we have premier teaching facilities befitting a premier law school.
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Tags: campus 2010, law school, library, lightbox, sydney university
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Aaaah, I should’ve checked out the law building yesterday when I was on campus, but… I didn’t.
Anyway, looks kinda snazzy, but here’s what confuses me about that library, and the Scitech library too: What’s with the shoulder-height bookshelves? I mean, sure, I suppose they allow light and the appearance of spaciousness and whatnot, but I would’ve thought that the primary purpose of a library should be just making as much space for books as possible, especially when the books area and the reading area are nicely seperated.
The short shelves just strike me as a bit of a underuse of space, and end up looking kinda weird when you have such a high roof anyway. I mean, I’m probably biased here by the complaints of certain maths students, who found most of their books ending up in Storage after the move to Scitech, when some slightly taller bookcases might’ve been able to accomodate at least some of them… But this does seem to me to be somewhat contrary to the point of a… Library.
Anyway, I’m done with that rant, thanks for the update.
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I had the same feeling about the shoulder-height bookshelves. But its a very sexy looking building. I like the view over the “gardens” to the old buildings as well. We need more meeting rooms over at UNSW
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Thankfully we got the idea of a library more than UNSW did; when they moved into their new law building, their library was smaller than the old one and they threw out large chunks of their collection. In this new library, there are plenty of empty shelves just waiting to be filled.
I read somewhere that it’s for accessibility purposes. People in wheelchairs can’t reach high bookshelves. I suspect that they keep the high traffic stuff in low bookshelves, the more esoteric stuff in normal high bookshelves, and the stuff that would be touched once in a century go into the compactors.
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Ris, what is it that makes it look sexy?
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Rendered concrete ceilings, colourless walls, a ridiculous centerpiece in the form of a giant skylight that serves as the primary source of light for the 8 people that can actually fit in the reading room and the simply ridiculous furnishings are all a part of the unfortunate trend towards minimalist design that is making its way through Usyd.
The new law buildings, as well as the SciTech building/library, are no doubt part of the future of Usyd but pale in comparison to Manning, the Education Building and the newly renovated John Woolley building; all of which are relatively new buildings that manage to incorporate the character.
Perhaps when Carslaw is torn down, it can be replaced by something more substantive than glass, bare walls and uncomfortable furniture.
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Frankly, I think the Education Building is one of worst modern buildings on main campus. An interior befitting of a hospital, the Education Building somehow manages to import the narrow corridors and dimly lit stairwells of the old without carrying any of the charm of the gothic-architecture buildings around campus. It’s only about 15 years old, but already it feels beyond its prime – a withered flower.
In denouncing minimalism (or stainless steel and glass buildings as a proxy), you fail to recognise that minimalism can be an end in itself; there are those who strive for it. Each period of development has made its unique mark upon the university, and this period is no different.
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When the University’s founding fathers chose the design for the Great Hall, they were building for the generations. They saw nothing wrong in choosing a design the size and opulence of which hardly befitted the tiny institution that the University was at the time. Yet today, their prescience is proved at every one of the hundreds of ceremonies that take place in the hall, a venue befitting one of the grandest bastions of learning in this country.
Unfortunately, the modern-day corporate suits and doped-up artists who run the university don’t think like that anymore. So we have a building that’s hardly a building. Yes, it does a wonderful job of blending in – blending into the ground, blending into Eastern Avenue, blending in to the blinding white desert of Eastern Avenue. But is that what a law school should look like? Does this mish-mash of dungeons and glass panels look like the incubator for the future defenders of our liberty?
This design would be great for something useful but slightly distasteful. The organic waste incinerator, perhaps. The Office of the University Inquisitors. The Chancellory. The glass walls symbolise transparency, see, while the armies of bean counters are chained to their deks downstairs.
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(continued)
You see, I’ve seen big concrete blobs like this, and I know what is meant by a “grand entrance” that “blends” the “space” into the “external space” , especially when the said entrance consists of concrete. It will get dirty, it will get stained. It will start cracking, and bums will piss/sleep/vomit all over it. Nobody walks up Victoria Park to get to Sydney Uni; at least, not from the law school direction. It will become desolate, it will be a wind tunnel in winter and a glaring pool of heatstroke in summer.
Tried and true forms like cloisters, and indeed, doors, and ground floors, and building above the ground, have stood the test of time because they work. Planting trees along the side of a road is *not* just an imperialistic imposition of oppressive order on the native land.
My verdict: interesting, but too avant garde for its own good.
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I would have to agree that it is lamentable that at the moment, we don’t seem to have a thing in NSW, or indeed in Australia, of having public buildings/spaces as impressive monuments. A great institution as the University of Sydney deserves its Great Hall and its Quadrangle, but there comes a point when the university’s goals – the education of its students and the furtherance of useful fields of study – demand functional spaces that are fit for purpose. More or less, the new law school is fit for purpose. If you lament what got built, perhaps be thankful that we didn’t get something like Carslaw or the Chemistry Building, two monstrosities that were built in a hurry and with limited funds.
I agree with you that nobody sane would come into the uni via Victoria Park, but Daniel threw to me the idea that perhaps it serves the opposite purpose – it’s there to let the cooped-up uni students out, into the green expanse of the Park.
Frankly, new, comfortable facilities will do more to stimulate the minds of the future defenders of our liberty. What use is it when a budding constitutional lawyer is distracted by creaking chairs and suffocated by a lack of suitable ventilation?
Having explored more of the law school now, there are little things that annoy me – the lack of noticeboards, and the insufficiency of seating with power points in the library being two of them. Also, it shares – along with the Student Centre – disgusting pine panelling; pine is cheap wood that makes me think the entire place is still under construction. God forbid the day that stainless steel and glass give way to stainless steel, glass and pine.
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Pine is terrible. Mahogany panelling or nothing, I say. I also agree that the Education buildling – along with the Manning extension – are among the worst buildings on cammpus. They are monstrosities: modern buildings that ‘echo’ their historical surroundings but make a farce of it. It would be great if they re-interpreted Gothic revival in abstract form. But sticking up cheap, chequered imitations of gables is just distgusting. I prefer chrome and glass over those piles of crap any day.
You know what’s interesting? The little glass alcove in the upper wall of the library reminds me of the little grilled (with a grille – not cooked on a grill) alcoves in an Italian church – the idea is that young girls from the attached orphanage would give violin performances there, and to discourage lust from the audience, they stand in the grilled alcove so that audience members can’t see their faces. That, at least, is the intention. The result is that the half-veiled glimpses only increased the mystery and allure.
Hmm. Here’s a romance novel (a start)
“Damn constitutional law, Chiqui thought, as he looked up from his books and around the law library; it’s terrible how we are made to study in this bunker of unfurnished concrete walls and cheap pine — the only patch of light is the glass alcove, high up one wall. His eyes glanced over it, but were quickly drawn back by a glimpse of something red – the only bright colours in the room. A red scarf, a flick of long black hair — and she was gone.”
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WOW… didnt realise you guys were SO against it..
i disagree on many points..
will discuss in person next time i see youse-
Hmm yes we need to hear from someone who’s actually studied architecture
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Wall
: I agree with u. I need to imedeatly add it in my RSS
: oy update!
: Brilliant, Brilliant NOTES!! I LOVE YOU.
: Wow you looked really different back in 2005! http://www .nointrigu e.com/gall ery/main.p hp?g2_item Id=34502
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