28 Aug : Vol 25, #12 - UWA News staff magazine - The University of ...

2 3 4ourcolourful1Yellow stairwells, bright green lift lobbies and orange foyers have catapulted UWA buildingsinto the 21st centuryInside the traditional sandstone or modern pale buildings is whatcould be described as a controlled explosion of colour.Over the past few years, dazzling colours have been used tobrighten walls around the campus but as Facilities Management’spainting supervisor, Alan Falconer, says, it is not a period of wildabandon but a carefully controlled move to create some upliftingspaces for staff and students.“It started with the SIMS building,” Alan said. “It needed doingup for the SIMS (Student Information and Systems) implementationteam and, as it was going to be a temporary workplace, we wereencouraged to have a bit of fun.”Consultant project architect Eng Hock Kong chose bright, boldand vivid colours which the staff loved. “It gives everybody a bit ofa lift and was defi nitely a talking point in the beginning,” said SIMSassistant director John Murray.“We had to create some guidelines so we didn’t end up witha campus looking like a kindergarten,” Alan said. “We decided thatcolours should align, where possible with a faculty’s brand colourand that bold colours would only be used in foyers, stairwells andopen places. We wouldn’t as a rule use bright colours that could beoverwhelming in offi ces, laboratories and workshops.”An exception was made for the offi ces of the former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) Professor Belinda Probert. At herrequest, they were painted a glowing mango yellow.But other splashes of colour are in areas where they can beenjoyed by everybody. Some of the walls in the entrance to thezoology building are a dramatic green.“The idea was that green was the colour of the Faculty of Naturaland Agricultural Sciences and the colour would be the backdrop forthe faculty logo on the glass walls and doors at the entrance to thebuilding,” Alan said.Similarly, orange is the colour of the Faculty of Life and PhysicalSciences and anybody who has visited the faculty offi ce will have seenthe glow that extends down the corridor from the bright orange