The Forest | Woods Bagot

The Forest is the University of Tasmania’s flagship Hobart campus, providing an inner-city hub for learning, research, collaboration and community. Designed by Woods Bagot, The Forest is a highly connected campus that unifies the disparate built elements with integrated landscape, through-block connections and publicly accessible thoroughfares. As a highly flexible structure, the building’s demountable design will enable the university to adapt the interior environment as the university’s pedagogical needs change. Working with existing conditions, the project restores and revives two light industrial warehouses and heritage-listed domed atrium. The reinstated forested atrium provides the civic heart of the campus, celebrating history, biophilia, and climate-responsive design. As an example of mass timber construction, adaptive reuse, and the largest commercial use of hempcrete in Australia, the new campus combines innovative and experimental approaches to resilient and sustainable design while restoring and reviving an iconic piece of local heritage.