Swanston Academic Building

The Swanston Academic building is an RMIT building designed by the architecture firm Lyons and is located on Swanston Street in Melbourne 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 of floor space, is 11 storeys high (including basement) and provides 6 large lecture theatres for students. The colourful building is intended to reflect the cities surroundings in the façade. “The idea is to wear the ‘cloak’ of the city”. (Carey Lyon)HistoryBefore 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.Features 6 large lecture theatres available that are available to the whole University community 8 Coloured Anodised Finishes by Sapphire Aluminium 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.