Chau Chak Wing Museum

The brief

A landmark cultural and educational facility for the University of Sydney, bringing together museum collections, exhibition spaces and research facilities within a contemporary architectural building. The cantilevered building form placed significant demands on concrete delivery from the outset, and the work had to be coordinated within a live university campus.

What we did

Mobile placing booms and ride-on trowel machines were deployed across the programme, with trowel finishing applied to achieve the floor quality required for public exhibition spaces. The combination of off-form structural elements and exhibition-grade floor finishes demanded consistency at every stage, in an environment where the finished concrete would remain visible to the public for decades.

Strict campus access protocols were maintained throughout without impacting the programme.

The outcome

The concrete at Chau Chak Wing was never going to be covered up. Every off-form face and every exhibition floor is on permanent display to the public and to the University. The American Concrete Institute recognised the result. The building has to hold up to closer scrutiny than any award does.