Conceived as part of a master-plan, together with the future School of Arts and campus landscaping, the building replaces a number of temporary classrooms on the site, and reinforces the campus edge, entry points and circulation routes. The new building provides a landmark copper tower that indicates a new point of entry and provides visibility around the campus and from the important junction of Nile St and Collingwood St.   

The building is located parallel to Nile Street, providing a strong edge to the campus with the south-side being a ‘public face’ addressing Nile Street and the north-side being the ‘private face’ addressing the campus, each side being treated differently in response.

The building is oriented with the long axis in an east-west direction to provide solar control. The north façade faces a new sunny landscaped courtyard, and responds to orientation with external solar shading, balconies and sliding openings for good connections to the campus. The south façade provides large windows to allow good day-lighting and visibility, in order to showcase NMIT activities from the street.

Materials are used predominantly in their natural form for visual appearance and low-maintenance, with a patinated copper tower providing a landmark entry point, cedar sun-shades to the north side and clear coated fibre-cement cladding at high level.

The building is designed to reduce energy consumption through orientation, external solar shading, high levels of insulation and good natural lighting. Natural ventilation utilising thermal mass and night time purging, controlled by the BMS, are used to reduce cooling loads and solar panels are used to reduce energy for water heating.