The University Lawn Precinct is a rare example of a large-scale urban refurbishment within an existing university campus embedded within the city. The ambition for the project was to transform a once degraded campus into a vibrant urban venue as a new public place—a place that reconnected the university back into the city it occupies.

The University Lawn Precinct forms part of a larger campus-wide Urban Spaces Project that commenced in the mid-1990s. Originally a gravel car park hemmed in at the rear of the main university buildings, this forgotten service area has been transformed into a richly layered urban realm. The university has worked closely with the City of Melbourne as part of a sustained program of pedestrianisation and urban enhancement.

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Author notes

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Peter Elliott AM, B.Arch Hons (Melb), M.Arch (RMIT), LFRAIA, Adjunct Professor & Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Art Design & Architecture, Monash University, Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design, L11, 180 Russell Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, 03 9654 0015 T, www.peterelliott.com.au