Whilst not strictly in the Melbourne CBD grid, RMIT University is creating quite a large precinct of contemporary architecture, with works in the 90s from early ARM, Peter Elliot, Edmond and Corrigan, amongst others. Nowadays, the likes of NMBW, Sean Godsell, Lyons and (proximally) Elenberg Fraser get a mention.

This is Elenberg Fraser’s A-Beckett Tower, with offset balconies of multi-coloured sunshading reveals – an ‘autumnal screen’ – providing articulation to the facade. Read about it here on their website.

Godsell’s Design Hub, that was to be completed in August 2011, still remains boarded up and unfinished. Here is a close up of the glass cells that encase the building, designed to be easily replaced as photovoltaic technology improved. Read about it in a previous post here.

Lyons’ Swanston Academic Building is a building for the RMIT students – cafeterias, break out spaces, student services, et al, are to be housed here. Designed with Revit, the site analysis involved hoisting photographer John Gollings up to take photos of eventual views from the yet unbuilt structure. Check out the Lyons website here to see renderings of the finished product, where giant multi-storey openings reveal these views, providing framed vistas across the city. There’s a few good YouTube videos of the flythroughs also.