Chau Chak Wing Museum - University of Sydney

Located in the heart of the University of Sydney, Chau Chak Wing Museum is a six-storey world-class exhibition space, built to consolidate the university’s existing extensive collections as well as showcasing future exhibitions of art, science, technology and natural history.

Our structural team’s expertise was put to the ultimate test with the complex and striking façade design which included a large floating box comprising of 32m spanning transfer walls and 15.5 cantilever walls, constructed out of reinforced concrete (which also comprises the finished façade of the building). Structural designs also had to carefully consider the placement of priceless and heavy museum artefacts (e.g. the Egyptian statue of Hathor weighs 3.4 tonnes).

Our acoustic team worked with the wider project team to deliver an environmental noise assessment and acoustic construction advice for insulation to sensitive spaces. Interior spatial acoustics design including acoustic 3D modelling and auralization was undertaken for specialist spaces to demonstrate the effects of various acoustic treatments on the acoustics of the room in an accessible way to the end client. Collaboration with the technical stakeholders form the university and the audio-visual engineers resulted in the best outcomes for acoustic comfort and speech intelligibility.

Northrop is incredibly proud to have been part of delivering such a culturally significant building, alongside our project partners. We are also thrilled to see the project being recognised through an impressive awards tally, that has continued to grow since completion! 

What our clients had to say about us: 

I’ve worked with Northrop for the past 3 years on Chau Chak Wing Museum, where they provided structural, civil and acoustic services. The quality of work has always been excellent, and I’ve been particularly impressed by their people; their can-do attitude as well as their ability to meet deadlines. A technically complex project, Northrop added value by bringing valuable knowledge and contributing great ideas that solved buildability challenges we had on the project. Overall, it’s been a great experience and I look forward to future projects with Northrop. | Branko Mihaljevic, Senior Project Manager, FDC Construction & Fitout

The University Infrastructure (UI) project team and associated stakeholders greatly appreciated your exceptionally positive engagement throughout the several project workshops to develop the ‘box’ methodology and proactive design solutions.Thank you for your utmost focus on achieving a quality outcome and for your excellent working relationship with the contractor, FDC. | Belinda Hutchinson AC – Chancellor | Dr Michael Spence AC – Vice-Chancellor and Principal - The University of Sydney

Learn a little bit more about what it took to deliver such a complex project and take a tour of the exhibition spaces here. 

To hear more, contact Aaron Hughes - Principal | Sydney Structural Manager on 02 9241 4188 or sydney@northrop.com.au 

 

 

Client Name
FDC Construction and Fitout; University of Sydney
Construction Value
$50 million
Awards

Amercian Institute of Concrete (ACI) Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, Overall Winner, 2022

American Institute of Concrete (ACI) Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, First Place, Mid-Rise Structures Category, 2022

Excellence in Concrete Awards National, Kevin Cavanagh Trophy for Best Overall, 2021

Excellence in Concrete Awards NSW, Excellence in Concrete, 2021

Master Builders Association NSW Excellence in State Awards, Public Buildings Category, $10m - $60m, 2021 (Builder - FDC Construction & Fitout Pty Ltd)

Master Builders Association NSW Excellence in State Awards, Best Use of Concrete, 2021 (Builder - FDC Construction & Fitout Pty Ltd)

Want to keep in touch? Sign up