Frank, mate, really?

UTS has just finished the unfortunately named “UTS Dr Chau Chak Wing Building”.

Is it a wing or a building or both?

Designed by the Frank Gehry company, it’s a little building with quite an intriguing exterior. Some will say ‘different’ is always good because if you wait long enough it will be considered a classic.

Personally I don’t think it’s that marvellous. It looks OK, but it’s not breathtaking. Different, yes. For me it doesn’t speak to the location nor does it have any hint of “Australia” about it. It looks like it belongs in Chicago.

Actually it looks like a climbing wall with windows sticking out of it. I reckon it would have looked better with the windows recessed. And then the UTS could have earned some extra money by renting it out as a climbing wall.

Given where it is, tucked away behind a few other buildings I wonder whether the money might have been better spent on making another ‘statement’ building on Broadway.

They spent $180m on the building. At 16,030sqm the building cost $11,228 per square meter.

In China commercial high rise costs $1,400 per square meter, and some new construction techniques they have are down to $1,000 per square meter.

If our universities can justify all this extra expense on high class buildings because they supposedly boost a university’s standings then god help our universities if the Chinese ever get on top of their architectural design issues.