Architecture and design practice Michiru Higginbotham reinvigorates a social hub within the University of Sydney, striking an elegant balance between heritage and contemporary student life.

Within the sandstone walls of St Andrew’s College, one of six residential colleges within the University of Sydney and home to 380 students and fellows, architecture firm Michiru Higginbotham has stylishly reimagined the historic Junior Common Room in collaboration with heritage consultant Weir Phillips.

Located beneath the Great Hall of the college’s imposing Main Building – constructed in 1876 and celebrated as one of Australia’s most notable examples of Gothic Revival architecture – the Junior Common Room has long represented a social centre for casual get-togethers and after-hours study.

The college’s notable alumni include Sydney Harbour Bridge engineer John Bradfield, Australia’s only President of the United Nations General Assembly to date, Herbert Vere ‘Doc’ Evatt, and current Shadow Minister for Defence Angus Taylor.

Also among them, fittingly, is Michiru Higginbotham co-founder and director Michiru Cohen.

In recent years, however, the weight of all this history began to bury the space and, by 2023, it was in need of a refresh. The legendary Highlander Bar, once the heart of the space’s storied parties, was particularly diminished and in need of revitalisation.

‘As much as necessary, as little as possible’

In the adaptive reuse of the historic space, Cohen and fellow studio co-founder and director Adam Higginbotham took their lead from the Burra Charter’s guiding principle of ‘as much as necessary, as little as possible’.

“We saw ourselves as custodians,” Cohen explains. “Our role was to frame the space for the next generation, respecting the history, but leaving room for them to make their own.”

To this end, many of the original design elements were retained and served as creative inspirations. Steel-framed courtyard windows, with their dark bronze finish, informed the wider tonal palette across the project, while existing timber joinery and stone fireplaces were left largely untouched.

As Higginbotham elaborates, “We designed the space to sit apart from the old world, but also richly embrace its heritage and traditions. It needed to feel like an extension of the dorm: a public room and a living room in equal measure.”

Among the obvious design interventions were additions to the ceiling. Cloud-like coffers extend downward, breaking the upper space into a series of curved bays. Besides their aesthetic appeal, they also serve practical purposes in reflecting sunlight into the centre of the room and improving the space’s acoustics.

“Among the heritage constraints, the ceiling enabled us to take over the whole space without interrupting the heritage plan on the ground,” Higginbotham says.

Sections of the room are now softly demarcated without encroaching on the free-flow movements of the floorspace, balancing the proportions of the interior in an intuitive yet subtle fashion.

Combining a sense of home with the heart of the party

Assisting with the reimagining of the Junior Common Room was basebuild architect Alex Nock, who, like Cohen, is another alum of St Andrew’s College. Their shared connection to the site shaped an approach that became a heroic homecoming – a bold effort to bring the very best to a setting that holds deeply personal connections.

“We had an instinctive feel for how people study and gather here,” Cohen says of their mutual experiences of student life on the grounds. “It was a generous exchange with the student union, honing a design that would support those moments.”

The end result is a space that handsomely balances a contrast of the formal and the familiar, especially evident in the freshly reworked Highlander Bar, which features traditional signage, brass detailing and an imposing brass crest laid into the stone floor.

The Junior Common Room now shifts seamlessly between café, bar, study lounge and event space. Rich Chesterfield sofas offer effortless stints for reading, hightop tables for casual drinks and easily configurable seating to accommodate everything from live music, guest lectures and family gatherings.

Enabling greater versatility, sliding acoustic partitions allow the room to be seamlessly converted from a quiet study space to a lively open mic venue.

“When students are away from home, they need a place that feels like home to come back to,” Higginbotham says of the space’s dimensional flexibility. “The Junior Common Room had to feel public yet personal: a place for birthdays, family dinners or a quiet study nook, while also scaling up to host major college and community events.”

Closely adhering to its heritage while serving the needs of the current student body, Michiru Higginbotham’s reinvigoration of the Junior Common Room strikes a balance between functionality and aesthetics.

Photography by Anson Smart.

This article originally appeared in inside magazine issue 122. Grab a copy here.