UTAS Melville Street Student Accommodation wins Tasmanian AIA Award
The UTAS Melville Street student accommodation project seeks to develop a strong vibrant sense of community that is safe and beneficial to all that reside within the building. The project is the open statement in a wider vision for the precinct that integrates UTAS into the city as an inclusive environment both physically and socially. Three storey ‘vertical villages’ serve the corresponding levels of residences throughout. The remnant historical building was re-appropriated as an administrative centre that co-locates the university with its student cohort.

The building’s tone, texture and materiality draw on the characteristics of Mount Wellington and the building’s immediate surroundings. We employed a ‘fabric first’ approach to sustainability and combined this with passive solar design and the use of natural convection with the vertical villages. The project sets a new benchmark for student housing Hobart, with the wellbeing of students always central to our thinking.
Project Team:
Trevor Hamilton, Ken Ng, Chris Norris, Gianluca Chiostri, Lily Shen, Benedict Koh, Aleksandra Duczmal, Karyn Cairney, Evan Box, and Alexandra Macoustra
