The precinct
Melbourne Connect will be a collaborative, multi-use precinct in Melbourne’s City North.
Melbourne Connect will be a collaborative, multi-use precinct in Melbourne’s City North that will bring FEIT and other University colleagues together with industry, Student Accommodation, the Creator Space, Science Gallery Melbourne, Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre and a host of other organisations and businesses
Environmentally sustainable design will maximise energy efficiency while minimising water use, waste going to landfill. Pedestrian flow, traffic management and end of trip facilities are strong elements of the design, as well as precinct accessibility.
The largest portion of the precinct’s University space is dedicated to Engineering and IT, with over 34,000sqm on the Grattan and Swanston sides of the site.
Student accommodation will consist of around 15,000sqm with housing available to postgraduate students and visiting academics. This building faces on to Cardigan Street.
The Science Gallery, which will be located on the ground floor on the corner of Swanston and Grattan provides a public space which will welcome members of the general public with around 4,000 sqm of flexible exhibition space and event facilities.
Meeting and event organisers will have a range of options to choose from on the Superfloor, with formal and informal spaces available including theatres and workshop spaces. This facility will encompass over 4000 sqm of the precinct. The Superfloor provides a seamless physical connection between the spaces, as well as Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology and industry neighbours.
Melbourne Connect houses a new fabrication lab, Creator Space, which will be available for research and industry fabrication of prototypes with a range of equipment available in this 1,100 sqm space.
The precinct will also house a child care centre, shops and cafes, as well as end of trip facilities accessible via a ride in ramp off Grattan Street.
The development is designed around a central open space, the Oculus. This area can be accessed from Swanston, Grattan and Cardigan Streets by four diagonal laneways each with their own distinct environment. The history of the site, which was home to the former Royal Women’s Hospital is fundamental to the landscape design. This includes the reinterpretation of hospital theatre lights from the 3AW building, lighting used to outline the former hospital courtyard and changes in paving, with the footprint of the 3AW tower traced in brickwork from the original building. These elements were not designed to be too literal, rather to evoke curiosity in visitors to the space.
The Melbourne Connect precinct includes a significant contribution to the city’s public spaces, through the Oculus, Science Gallery and pedestrian laneways.
Melbourne Connect is being purpose built to encourage and support collaboration and innovation between researchers and industry, which will support MSE’s ongoing strategic aims.