{"id":28801,"date":"2025-07-29T01:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T01:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/28801\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T01:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T01:05:13","slug":"canberra-welcomes-new-22500-square-metre-education-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/28801\/","title":{"rendered":"Canberra welcomes new 22,500-square-metre education campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has officially opened their Woden campus, approximately 10 kilometers south of Canberra\u2019s CBD.<\/p>\n

Designed by architecture practice Gray Puksand in collaboration with Infrastructure Canberra, CIT and Lendlease, the 22,500-square-metre facility will accommodate up to 6,500 students a year. Concept designs<\/a> for the project were released in August 2022, three months after the architects were appointed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A press release from the architects notes that \u201cthe campus is designed to embed education within the public life of the local community.\u201d At ground floor, activated street frontages, publicly accessible spaces and direct links to transport \u2013 including a public transport interchange currently in construction \u2013 are designed to dissolve \u201cthe boundaries between learning and civic participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Partner at Gray Puksand Barry Hackett commented, \u201cCIT Woden speaks to a broader evolution in institutional interiors, where civic buildings are designed not only for access, but also for comfort, dignity, and engagement. It is a campus designed not just to serve a curriculum, but to support how people live, learn and gather.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn doing so, it reflects the evolving role of vocational education in Australian cities, where institutions are increasingly seen as a driver of community connection, urban renewal and economic opportunity,\u201d said Hackett.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

According to their communique, Gray Puksand\u2019s design for CIT Woden responds also to the identity of the campus\u2019s setting on Ngunnawal Country. The architectural form draws from the surrounding landscape, with facade geometries referencing the Brindabella Ranges. At roof level, a circular oculus featuring a wedge-tailed eagle, or Mulleun, is intended to represent a totem of the Ngunnawal people.<\/p>\n

The design process included consultation with Yerrabingin on the integration and expression of Country throughout the campus. The collaboration informed spatial strategies, cultural references and materials used across the public realm and interior design.<\/p>\n

CEO and co-founder of Yerrabingin Christian Hampson said, \u201cWe applied our designing with Country practice Wanganni Dhayar, that brings together First Nations communities and built environment professionals to guide a Country centred approach to CIT Woden. This approach informed spatial planning to the expression of landscape and light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each floor of the five-level building is distinguished by colour, with muted earth tones at ground level and lighter sky tones above encouraging clear wayfinding.<\/p>\n

Smart classrooms, specialist labs and open collaboration areas are distributed throughout to support various work, training and study modes in industries such as business and management, creative industries, cyber and IT, hair and beauty, and hospitality, culinary and tourism.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

The campus design integrates sustainability as a core framework, with CIT Woden being declared by Gray Puksand as one of the first institutions of its kind to combine mass timber construction with fully electric systems.<\/p>\n

The 6-Star Green Star campus incorporates approximately 1,200 cubic metres of engineered timber across both the exterior and interior, and is supported by 100 percent renewable energy from the ACT grid, rooftop planting, water harvesting and solar photovoltaic infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on Gray Puksand\u2019s approach, Hackett noted, \u201cDesigning an educational precinct of this scale without fossil fuels pushed us to rethink every system and assumption. CIT Woden demonstrates that large, high-performance education buildings can meet ambitious sustainability targets without compromising functionality or long-term public value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Each<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

The architecture firm claims that the major investment into the campus and surrounding infrastructure will deliver broad and long-term civic and economic value, improving \u201cpathways into training and employment across critical industries to support the territory\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former acting CEO of CIT Christine Robertson added that the campus \u201cgives our students a place they can feel proud of, one that reflects the quality of training provided and the vital role vocational education plays in the community. The campus will strengthen our ability to attract and retain learners, foster meaningful educational outcomes, and build workforce capability across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has officially opened their Woden campus, approximately 10 kilometers south of Canberra\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-28801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}