The University Technology of Sydney (UTS) National First Nations College has won a 2024 World Architecture Festival WAFX Award for Cultural Identity. The WAFX Prize celebrates international proposals that embrace cutting-edge design and architecture to tackle major world issues, including health, climate change, technology, ethics, and values.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney, Greenaway Architects, OCULUS, and Finding Infinity, the college will provide a purpose-built facility on the UTS Ultimo Campus that supports cultural safety and communicates Indigenous culture and its values to the world.

A new precinct heart will be created, fostering connections to Country, community, and student life. The ground floor hosts a vibrant mix of spaces: a knowledge hub, gallery, and co-working spaces. The prominent knowledge hub ensures Indigenous wisdom permeates every corner. The roof of an adaptively reused heritage building creates a spacious extended social area, bridging sky and earth – dissolving architecture to the ground plane.

Designed for comfort and connectivity, the college feels like a home, offering spaces for interaction and respite. Vertical student neighbourhoods encourage interaction within intimate clusters and provide a direct connection to external areas across all levels of the project.

Clear sustainability strategies include an optimised hybrid timber structure; regenerative water practices; breathable façade design; local resilient materials; thermal mass; passive ventilation and biophilia – contributing to a holistic approach that ensures the college not only functions but thrives as a living, breathing community hub.

The design is an authentic embodiment of Indigenous design thinking. Infused with nuanced cultural references and evoking the colours of Country, the UTS National First Nations College will be an exemplar mode of inclusivity and cultural leadership.