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RMIT Swanston Academic Building (SAB)

Introduction
The Swanston Academic building is an RMIT building designed by the architecture firm Lyons and is located on Swanston Street across from Peter Corrigan designed building 8 and ARM’s Storey Hall. Construction began on September 2010 and was completed in September 2, 2012. The budget for the SAB was $200,000,000. The new building contains 35,000sqm of floor space, is 11 storeys high (including basement) and provides 6 large lecture theatres for students. The building has state of the art facilities for students and also has a 5 star green star rating, meaning the building is very environmentally sustainable. The extremely colourful building is intended to reflect the cities surroundings in the façade and is part of the reason the building is coloured this way. “The idea is to wear the ‘cloak’ of the city”. (Carey Lyon)

History
During 1837 Melbourne’s grid was being laid out, Swanston Street was placed in the centre running roughly from north to south and has become the main thoroughfare in Melbourne.

Before the SAB building was built, there was another proposal for a sports and recreation center that was to occupy the site. This new building would also be designed by Lyons Architects and would provide a large sports hall and allied facilities, including a gymnasium, change-rooms and health consulting suites. The hall would have had three indoor sports courts for daily use (adaptable for volleyball, badminton, netball and basketball) and is also intended to be a venue for elite sporting competitions, university ceremonies and student examinations. The building was to accommodate for 2600 people. The building was a tube that followed the gentle fall of the land.

The building’s interior was intended to be seen from the street as a public spectacle, which would reveal the university. The glass façade was to be sand blasted and seraphic printed to achieve patterning. The building was to be a contained public space.

The current SAB by Lyons architects’ eventually replaced this design.



September – December 2008
Lyons work on the schematic designs for the SAB.

May – August 2008
Architects begin the SAB schematic design. Concepts and themes are converted into preliminary drawings and the building’s scale, appearance and its proximity to adjacent buildings are explored. RMIT is also documenting the design, development and construction process of the Swanston Academic Building.

April 2008
The SAB project vision and concept was introduced to all RMIT Pro-Vice Chancellors and Heads of Schools at a workshop that ran in April.

February 2009
The schematic designs for the SAB presented to the Campus Development Committee on Thursday, 26 February 2009. The schematic design and cost report are presented and cost report were accepted and approved. Lyons architects have approval to proceed to Design Development.

March 2009
The Design Development program is well underway.

July 2009
RMIT’s Building 48 earmarks for demolition in August 2009.

August 2009
The demolition of Building 48 begins, expected completion by December 2009.

September – December 2009
Extensive work continued on the demolition of Building 48, at 449 Swanston. The entire building was dismantled by mid December 2009. Design development for the SAB was finalised in late November. Construction of the Swanston Academic Building is scheduled to begin in September 2010.

January – February 2010
The A. G. Coombs Group appointed to install chilled water carrier pipes and conduits from Building 12 to the SAB site and BTB Australia appointed to carry out directional drilling under Swanston Street to enable the installation of the chilled water carrier pipes. Works commence at the beginning of February.

March – August 2010
Formal Tender period commenced in June and closed in August 2010.

September 2010
RMIT University appoints Brookfield Multiplex as the contractor for the SAB. Brookfield Multiplex has taken possession of the site

June 2011
Brookfield Multiplex is progressing with construction. The concrete and steel structure expected to be completed by October 2011. Façade installation is due to commence in July 2011.

July – January 2012
Construction of the Swanston Academic Building, RMIT University’s largest building, has progressed. Building works are six months ahead of schedule.

Features
•	35,000sqm of floor space and 11 levels (including basement) •	6 large lecture theatres available that are available to the whole University community •	70 small and medium-sized teaching and learning spaces that are available to the whole University community •	9 specialist learning venues that are available to the whole University community •	Two-storey cantilevered student portal that overhangs Swanston Street •	Nine additional double-height student portals for study and recreation •	An innovative mix of teaching and office space on all levels of the building to encourage more interaction between staff and students •	Eleven retail outlets that include coffee carts, cafes and a restaurant.





Environmentally Sustainable Design
The SAB has achieved a 5 star Green star rating for its innovative sustainable design features. Featuring a water harvesting system, the Swanston Academic Building will harvest water from the rooftop and use it for the flushing of the toilets. In addition, horizontal atriums will allow natural light to filter through the building with will reduce electrical lighting. Other ESD features include.

•	Active chilled beam technology. •	Under Floor Air Distribution System (UFAD) that is used for ventilation and cooling in lecture theatres •	Student portal heating and cooling that uses mixed mode ventilation. When the external temperature is between 17oC and 30oC and the wind speed is less than 10m/s, the Swanston Academic Building portals will operate in natural ventilation mode, opening the vents and windows to outside conditions. •	Façade is comprised of external panels and triangular elements, which provide different degrees of shading, based on the orientation of the building. •	The combination of shading elements and glazing performance allows for high levels of natural daylight to penetrate the internal spaces of the Swanston Academic Building, without allowing for significant glare. •	Rainwater harvesting and grey water treatment. To reduce the consumption of drinking (potable) water, rainwater is collected from the roof of the building in an 80 kL rainwater tank and is used for irrigation and toilet flushing. •	Energy-efficient lighting sources that include fluorescent lamps and LEDs. These lamps offer a significant reduction in lighting power consumption: approximately one third of that consumed by incandescent lamps. •	Constructed from materials that have a reduced environmental impact. These materials include those with a lower embodied energy, those that originate from sustainable sources and those that use reduced amounts of raw materials. •	Chilled water is sourced from a chilled water plant room that is located on the roof of RMIT’s Building 12, opposite Building 80 on Swanston Street on the City Campus. •	The Building Management System is connected to energy and water meters and allows for real-time monitoring of water, electricity, and gas consumption •	Demand-based Control Ventilation technology, which maintains proper ventilation and improves air quality while saving energy. Carbon Dioxide Gas sensors control the amount of ventilation for the actual number of occupants. •	Solar-powered hot water capacity. The solar panels are used to pre-heat the water, which is then stored in tanks until required.





Design Approach
The defining element for Lyons design for the Swanston Academic Building was its central site to Melbourne’s CBD, which influenced its footprint and form. Adrian Stanic (Lyons Architectural Director and RMIT alumnus) said in a media release (22/10/2010) “We saw the site as a focal point of the city and looked at how the SAB could create a dialogue with the other landmark buildings that define Melbourne. The process involved mapping lines from the site to these buildings. Using these lines we then created a computerized algorithm that generated the 3 dimensional shapes and form of the building. We also put a boom lift on site and hoisted architectural photographer Dianna Snape up to photographically capture the vistas from the 11 levels of the building. The best viewpoints then became the location for the student ‘portals’ on each level that connect student activities inside the building with the surrounding cityscape. In this way we have created a design that integrates the building into the very heart of Melbourne architecturally, but also reflects and embraces the broader architectural legacy of the city.” Predominant colours of Melbourne were derived from a survey, which has been reflected in the colour palette of the SAB. Lyons has connected the Swanston Academic Building to the rest of the RMIT campus by designing it with “a sense of openness, transparency and energy". When designing the layout for the Swanston Academic Building, Lyons consulted extensively with a wide range of academic staff to gather information about learning and teaching methodologies (both current and future), including learning and teaching spaces that would aid their teaching practice.