Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, University building in Ultimo, Sydney, Australia
The Dr Chau Chak Wing Building is a university facility in Ultimo featuring an exterior of more than 300,000 custom-designed bricks arranged in undulating patterns across its twelve levels. Inside, it holds classrooms, research spaces, and collaborative work areas that serve thousands of students and teaching staff.
Construction began in late 2012 and the building opened to the public in February 2015 after completion in November 2014. This marked the first Australian project by renowned architect Frank Gehry and brought international attention to the university's campus.
The building is named after a major donor and serves as a gathering place where students naturally interact and collaborate. The flowing forms and open layout encourage people to move freely between spaces and work together.
The building is easy to spot on campus and can be viewed from outside, though interior spaces are reserved for enrolled students and staff. Visit during daylight hours to see the brick patterns and window details most clearly.
The wavy brick exterior was designed to resemble a sheet of folded paper. This playful shape came from Gehry's concept of a treehouse structure that would encourage people to work together and interact more naturally.
Location: New South Wales
Inception: November 11, 2014
Architects: Frank Gehry
Official opening: February 2, 2015
Floors above the ground: 12
GPS coordinates: -33.88110,151.20100
Latest update: December 7, 2025 10:06
Frank Gehry designs buildings with curved metal facades, irregular forms and experimental construction methods. His work defines urban spaces from Bilbao to Los Angeles. The exterior surfaces use titanium, steel or glass formed into wave-like or folded volumes. The interior spaces accommodate art collections, concert halls and commercial offices. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao displays titanium panels that reflect the light of the Basque coast. The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles combines stainless steel surfaces with wooden acoustics for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein demonstrates his early approaches with white stucco surfaces and angled walls. The buildings emerge through computer-aided design that translates complex geometries into buildable structures.
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