GSA North Terrace transforms student living into a civic landmark.
Exemplifying Global Student Accommodation’s philosophy of pastoral care, student life and connection to city and place, the tower set the worldwide standard for GSA’s Yugo brand.
Located on North Terrace at the edge of the city, the tower is distinctly modern. Yet drawing inspiration from a giant column, and using entasis in its structural elements, the building is subtly connected to its classical neighbours. By designing the tower with an exoskeleton and core, the building is conceived as long life, loose fit and can be adapted to other purposes in the future.
GSA North Terrace redefines the Urban College, blending civic architecture with student housing to enrich the city.
A truly innovative, and market leading business, GSA operates globally in the Student Housing sector. Bringing this to the Adelaide city, we are proposing a new type of Co-living model whereby students are clustered within broader “family” groups within the larger college.
We carefully shaped the columns to optimise the tower’s efficiency and performance, providing sun shading, wind bracing and carrying the load of the building. As the thickness of the columns changes over the height of the tower, its accounts for human perspective and reduces the amount of concrete in the building and structure. Recreation spaces are cradled at the pinch point, and the colonnade at street level helps protect the privacy and security of residents in the study rooms.
Maximising the efficiency of construction
We engineered the tower to take advantage of local ingenuity and expertise. Precast manufacturers in Adelaide are of the highest calibre and the only crane in Australia with the capability to handle the size of the columns and the tight proximity of the heritage neighbours was located there. To maximise the efficiency of construction, the positioning of the columns was based on the dimensions of construction hoists to facilitate installation of the more than 600 premanufactured bathrooms.
These Co-living units provide all the amenity of a conventional student room, but with the added benefit of a shared living space spread dynamically across two storeys. This two-storey home in the sky, creates a shared kitchen eating space on one level, and a second lounge/relaxation area on the other. These students get the benefit of both this area, and the wider facilities in the building. A true diversity of product is then provided throughout the remainder of the building, through shared, multi-bed “apartment” like rooms, where 3-5 students share a combined living area, through to the upper floor levels where larger Studio and 1-bedroom spaces are provided.
