The University of Queensland Steele
On the land of the Turrbal and Jagera peoples
Located in the Great Court complex, this was a tiered lecture theatre with built-in desks and bench seats.
The brief was ‘flexibility’—the gutting of the space and conversion to a flat floor multi-function space, with furniture selected from the standard University range, with AV and full
blackout capability.
However, the existing fitments held a curious appeal, materials and styles from a bygone era, not to mention the patina and graffiti that comes with age and heavy use—it seemed unfortunate to erase undesignable qualities that only time can yield.
Nevertheless, the desks were no longer considered good desks, the tiered floor no longer considered a good floor, the seats no longer considered good seats, the curtains no longer considered good curtains . . .
One crucial observation was seminal—the desks were the same size and proportion as the windows. So, the desks could be considered ‘good curtains’, the hardwood floor could be considered ‘good desks’, the seats could be considered ‘good acoustic panels’ . . .
This attitude pervaded other fitments and treatments, enabling them to be understood favourably; the old silky oak counterbalanced chalkboard was refurbished, the painted datum retained and the lighting methodology replicated.
The old desks enjoy their new life as curtains, on tracks free to move on the walls, controlling light and ambience. In their open position, sitting alongside the windows, they are like deep reveals, the glancing light highlighting decades of scratched graffiti.
‘Question Everything’ . . . ‘Why?’
. . . simultaneously compliant and defiant like the project itself.
