Grafton Campus Redevelopment UoA

The University of Auckland’s Grafton Campus redevelopment was part of a $240 million masterplan project, completed over 6 years.

The Grafton Campus is primarily dedicated to the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences (FMHS), a bio-medical research and teaching facility combining a complex interweave of users and programmatic requirements. The masterplan and these research facilities were designed in association with Jackson Architecture.

The Grafton Campus masterplan has brought clarity and logic to the arrangement of faculty services, uniting discrete building elements into a navigable, interconnected, and cohesive whole.

A light-filled atrium connects the new Boyle building to the existing campus; acting as a three level circulation spine, the atrium unlocks circulation horizontally connecting research, academic, administration and teaching functions.

The campus is stratified with teaching and public facilities located on more accessible lower floors of the campus, with new state-of-the-art security-controlled, research laboratories located on upper floors of the refurbished buildings. These form the core business of the redeveloped campus and the new horizontal access between towers encourages social interaction and collaborative working across research and student streams.

Open-plan, adaptable spaces around the perimeter give access to natural day-lighting. Glazed partitions enhance both lighting and a sense of transparency across the laboratory and office floors. The interior draws inspiration from the existing architecture of the original campus buildings. Timber was used to add a warmth and humanity; and the colour palette, inspired by existing vibrant artwork hanging in the Philson Library, was used to create a historic continuum to the campus.