The Hawkesbury campus of the University of Western Sydney (UWS) is an extensive, historical campus located on the edge of Richmond town. It was one of the first agricultural colleges instituted in Australia and is notable for its distinctive heritage buildings and landscape. Jackson Teece was commissioned by UWS to prepare a Master Plan to guide the transformation of the campus to one that excels in the field of sustainability education and research.
The key concept underpinning the Master Plan is the establishment of an ‘exhibition campus’ that expresses the sustainability ethos of the campus through its planning. This is achieved on a number of levels – in the master planning as well as the presentation of the campus, in particular the sustainability focused research and activities of the campus.
The Master Plan rationalises the existing campus structure introducing simple but significant changes to the way people access the campus and move around within it. Circulation is designed to create a highly permeable network of routes for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, private cars, service vehicles and parking. These initiatives create a ‘walkable’ campus prioritising pedestrian and bicycle traffic, improving safety, and aiding the legibility of the campus.
