Co-founded in 2012 by two entrepreneurial students and developed by the University of Sydney Union in partnership with the University of Sydney, INCUBATE has grown to become a leading startup accelerator program in Australia.
INCUBATE fosters a proactive community of entrepreneurs to meaningfully support student entrepreneurs so they can launch successful startup ventures on campus.
But it provides much more than just support from 100+ mentoring entrepreneurs.
It funds students, alumni, and researchers to launch high-potential startups through their accelerator.
INCUBATE has been a huge success, with a 14,000+ strong community of entrepreneurs, 125 startups accelerated, $25million+ invested in startups, $67m+ in value created, and over 400 new jobs produced.
Their startups have launched innovative businesses across all sectors including media-tech, ag-tech, mobile, enterprise services, and social businesses.
Their goal is to help the next generation launch impactful, global businesses.
Amongst other things, INCUBATE’s scrappy entrepreneurial students learn to do more with less.
That’s an ethos Cox Architecture can relate to; they were engaged to design a space for INCUBATE.
Their design facilitates the startup program – an intense 14-week process of learning, collaboration, and private work – taking its cues from the energy generated by entrepreneurs.
The space has been carved into a series of fluid areas that provide students with choice as to how they want to work.
There’s space for individual work, opportunities to collaborate, areas to contemplate, a communal kitchen to nourish, and opportunities to pitch to industry.
Overall, the facility offers a contemporary environment that straddles between a co-share lab environment and a modern workplace.
Perhaps the strongest visual statement is the complex system of pipework that weaves through space referencing the facility’s function as a facilitator of ideas.
Over the collaborative pitch zone, the pipework appears tangled and unresolved, then as the pipes travel over workstations they untangle and provide power – a visual representation of the clarification of ideas.
Robust materials such as oriented strand board and a playful approach to joinery add to the contemporary feel of the space.
The Cox design for the INCUBATE project was designed to inspire creative thought, entice collaboration, and induce little bit of play, and has underpinned the project’s celebrated success.
Project Details
Completion date – 2018
Building levels – 1
Project Team
Interior Architecture
Cox Architecture
COX is a design-focused contemporary architectural practice with studios located in every major Australian city and a history spanning 60 years.
Key to their ethos is supporting the public life of our cities. Cox does this by ensuring each project makes positive contributions to its public realm – giving more than it takes.
Photography
Simon Wood
Simon is a Sydney-based professional photographer. His extensive portfolio includes a wide range of projects specialising in architecture, landscape architecture, and design.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2020 Cox Architecture. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2020 Simon Wood. All Rights Reserved.
Get the Builtworks Letter
In every edition of the Builtworks Letter, you’ll get the behind-the-scenes backstory as to how buildings are designed, built, and brought to life.
You’ll hear compelling stories, learn surprising ideas, meet engaging characters, and discover unique voices.