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The UWA Student Guild’s new Club Collaborative Zone designed by Hames Sharley has been recognised with an award for Interior Architecture in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2016 WA Architecture Awards.

The Club Collaborative Zone (CCZ) was nominated against a very competitive field from around the state of Western Australia. Hames Sharley's Associate Dean Symington said, "It is tremendous news to see the UWA Student Guild Hub be honoured with such a prestigious award, especially in light of the considerable competition that the project was up against on Friday evening."

The CCZ is the result of the Guild’s Student Central Hub Project, which commenced in early 2014 to address the lack of workspaces available for student clubs on campus. A project design group including representatives from the Guild Council and student club committees worked closely with Hames Sharley architects to create a space that would meet the needs of clubs for many years to come.

The Guild currently has more than 130 affiliated clubs, which run a collective total of nearly 1000 events per year as well as many community service programs.

Guild President Maddie Mulholland said, “Clubs are an essential part of UWA’s campus culture, providing invaluable opportunities for students to socialise, network and develop leadership skills. We are proud to have built this dedicated space to facilitate student collaboration and innovation, and are delighted that Hames Sharley have received this award for their cutting edge design.”

The $1.5 million CCZ includes bookable meeting rooms of various sizes, an audio-visual room, open plan areas to meet and collaborate, hot desk workstations, storage lockers and a multi-purpose production room. The space was designed to be flexible, with many walls doubling as whiteboards or pin-up boards and partitions enabling meeting spaces to be made smaller or larger. The open-plan layout takes full advantage of natural light and ventilation, and the concrete and recycled jarrah finishes provide a durable, contemporary style.

Hames Sharley’s Senior Interior Designer Brigid Salter said, "We are incredibly proud of this award, as it's a great reflection of the success that can come from a truly collaborative relationship between a client, a designer and the people that use the space - in this case the students of UWA."

The CCZ was officially opened by Maddie Mulholland and Janet Holmes à Court AC (a former member of Guild Council) on February 5th 2016. It is located on the first floor of Guild Village and is open to all students 8am-6pm weekdays, with out-of-hours access available to club committee members by arrangement.