Full tower from street level against clear blue sky: cantilevered concrete floor plates, podium, UTS sign. Portrait, slight wide-angle.

UTS Tower

15 Broadway, Ultimo

Michael Dysart, NSW Government Architect’s Office. 1969 to 1979. Brutalism.

Size
About 120 m, though UTS has also given 128 m. 32 levels, of which 27 are occupied
Material
Post-tensioned and precast concrete with a coarse aggregate finish in brown-beige
Status
No heritage listing found. In use as university offices

The plan began as a campus of several buildings and was cut back until this was nearly all that got built. It cost A$32 million, almost double the estimate. Union members once locked themselves into two cranes, and one floor took 18 months. Premier Neville Wran opened it in October 1979. Dysart rejected the Brutalist label, saying it reflected economy of means and respect for materials after years of austerity. Sydney Morning Herald readers voted it the city’s ugliest building in 2006. Others now defend it, and for many students it simply is the university.

Read about Brutalism in Sydney

Sources

  1. Forty fabulous facts about the UTS Tower, University of Technology Sydney
  2. UTS campus walking tour, University of Technology Sydney
  3. UTS Tower, Dictionary of Sydney
  4. Why the UTS Tower still stands tall and defiant, University of Technology Sydney (Cooper & Enstrom, 2019)
  5. Vale Michael Dysart, 1934-2026, Australian Institute of Architects