From Blueprint to Landmark
by Emma Masters
This
year UniSA is bringing art, architecture and design to Adelaide in more ways
than one. Not only are a number of impressive new buildings emerging on
UniSA campuses, but two new buildings on City West campus have become the
combined homes of the South Australian School of Art and the Louis Laybourne
Smith School of Architecture and Design.
Standing on the corner of Hindley Street and Fenn Place, the Kaurna building is a bold addition to the evolving arts precinct in the city’s West End. The building accommodates teaching studios, office and administration areas for the two schools, as well as exhibition spaces, a café/bar and the Australian Architectural archives.
Not far from Kaurna, the Dorrit Black building is where student work moves from concept to reality. The building houses all the workshops, studios, equipment and apparatus that the students need, from glass blowing and painting, to model making and metal construction.
Head of the South Australian School of Art, Professor Kay Lawrence, says moving to the city heralds an exciting new chapter in the history of the two schools, not only giving students easier access to teaching and practical spaces, but arts organisations as well.
“Our students spend many hours working on their art and designs in workshops and studios, so it is very convenient for them to be located in the city,” says Prof Lawrence.
“Now if they are working late, as many do, they can step out and take a break, find something to eat and drink or even meet up with friends.
“It is fitting that we are in the West End, the heart of Adelaide’s arts and cultural precinct. We are now a stone’s throw from important arts organisations, like ArtsSA or the South Australian Art Gallery, and we are already looking at ways in which we can take advantage of that in our art teaching and learning,” Prof Lawrence says.
Aside from the impressive architecture of the two buildings, where expansive windows provide snapshots of students at work, another outstanding characteristic of the buildings is the way that the spaces have been custom built for specialist teaching and practical requirements. For example, in the Dorrit Black building there are no touch sensor taps in the ceramics clean-up areas and there is special acid resistant flooring in the jewellery and printmaking workshops.
“The staff have been involved in designing the spaces from the very beginning, and it really shows in the attention to detail and the way in which the spaces have been designed for specific art practices,” says Prof Lawrence.
“We also have many new places to display work, such as big glass cabinets, windows running the length of workshops and areas for presentations, not to mention our new exhibition space on the ground floor of the Kaurna building, which will feature work of students, staff and graduates from both schools.”
With the two creative schools located in the same two buildings, future collaboration across the different disciplines promises to make UniSA one of the most dynamic arts and design education centres in Australia.