The Sibyl Centre M3 Architecture
Coincidentally, the principal of the Women’s College within the University of Sydney, Dr Amanda Bell, is reading the same novel as me, which the back cover describes as a #MeToo revisionist version of Greek mythology. Given that her college is the client for the new Sibyl Centre by M3 Architecture, it is perhaps less coincidental that she has chosen a book about a strong female character, Circe, who could look into the future, like the prophetess Sibyl. I suspect that Bell may have the same skill, as she has been a potent force in the expansion of an already progressive educational institution. The circular, multipurpose Sibyl Centre, woven into the fabric of the existing campus, has created an unambiguously contemporary architectural heart for the College, while master-planning moves of Platonic clarity have stitched the site together like some enchanted Circean island.
Opened in 1892, the Women’s College was the first university college for women in Australia and is significant not rejected the orthodox stylism and typology of stone Gothic Revival cloisters in favour of tiers of outward-looking brick loggias and balconies, where the landscape gently rolls up to the building. Emblazoned in stone at the entry, the College motto, Together (deliberately not in Latin), summarizes a commitment to the collaborative empowerment of women. Bell suggests that there is something in the bricks and mortar of the place that has represented and fostered this common purpose; this intangible quality is skilfully perpetuated in M3’s Sibyl Centre.
