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Designs for the new, government-backed $250m Charles Darwin University (CDU) city campus have changed again, with the university promising the latest "tropical" concept is the final plan for the building.
Key points:
- CDU is building a new campus in Darwin's CBD with $97m in government funding
- An initial concept design was criticised for resembling a "glasshouse"
- CDU says the design has been overhauled and is now climate-appropriate
The new CDU campus is the centrepiece of the federal and NT government's $200 million Darwin City Deal, a jointly funded plan aimed at revitalising and cooling the city.
The federal government has given CDU $97m for the project, with excavation at the CBD site commencing late last year.
Speaking next to the construction site — currently a large hole in the ground — on Friday, CDU vice-chancellor Scott Bowman said the university had scrapped previous "glasshouse" concepts, which had been criticised for potentially increasing extreme temperatures in the centre of the city.
"It's changed an awful lot," he said.
"I think people did see the very glass-centric approach to that design — we did get a lot of feedback — and I think you can see from these designs, we really listened."
Supplied: Charles Darwin University
)Professor Bowman said the new design featured louvres and terraced greenery on each floor of the seven-storey building.
"We've worked with local architects to get a building which really suits the climate," he said.
The building in the new design is far smaller than in the initial concept images, which showed several high-rise buildings, and is aimed at protecting the heritage-listed boab tree at the centre of the site.
Hopes international students will return
The new campus is set to open in 2024, when Professor Bowman expects international students will once again be able to travel to Australia.
"If international students aren't back by 2024, I think the whole higher education sector in Australia is going to be in a lot of trouble, and many universities [will be in] a lot more trouble than we will be in," he said.
"It is going to be tough for us over the next year or so.
"What we really need is to start getting international students back and we are working with the Northern Territory government to look at how we can do that."
Supplied: Charles Darwin University
)Professor Bowman said even if the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the university sector, he was confident CDU would remain strong.
"First and foremost, this building is a building for the people of the Northern Territory," he said.