Macquarie University Ainsworth Building

The Ainsworth Building is the new home of Macquarie University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Providing connection to building, environment and people, the Ainsworth Building establishes the University’s position in medical education.

The four-storey building features approximately 700 tonnes of prefabricated cross laminated timber and a Glulam structure wrapped in a high-performance double-glazed curtain wall façade. Logistics and procurement management were essential for a successful project outcome, located at the interface of live university campus and adjacent to the fully operational Macquarie University Hospital.

Through innovative design, the mass timber structure of the building was able to achieve large spans both horizontally and vertically. Innovations in re-engineering and acoustics were instrumental to the team achieving the University’s strict acoustic performance requirements while enabling the grand Glulam columns and beams to remain exposed.

A necessity to achieving the University’s design aspirations, the expansive floor-to-floor heights and concealed window mullions provided a challenge for the façade team, who designed, tested, and constructed some of the largest glazed curtain wall panels installed anywhere in Australia. It is calculated that the building will save carbon emissions equating to approximately six years of energy consumption.

The Ainsworth Building’s foundation consisted of bored piles and ground beams underneath a reinforced concrete slab on ground. The superstructure was constructed, almost exclusively, from mass timber in the form of cross laminated timber (CLT) and glue laminated timber (Glulam). The interior fit-out comprised 11 learning and teaching spaces across three levels including a large 200 seat lecture theatre on ground fevel. Smaller case study rooms and team-focused educational spaces populate levels 1 and 2, with level 3 reserved as a ‘cold shell’ for potential fit-out by the University to suit operational needs well into the future.