The University of Queensland Cricket Club Maintenance Shed is a celebration of cost efficiencies in an exploration of the standard grey block – an outcome driven by construction pricing and material supply constraints in 2020-21.

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Located at the street’s edge of the University campus, the project hopes not to present as an identifiable utility shed for tractors, rather a landscape wall in a field.

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As the cost of steel increased during the design process, core-filled blockwork piers replaced structural steel posts and enable the reimagining of a typical breezeblock screen.

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The building is elemental, championing blockwork as both decoration and structure. The shed breathes – three-quarter blocks provide one-quarter aperture when laid to a standard 400-grid, and lintel blocks laid on their side provide a shelf to support these. These turned lintels sleeve into the coursing of the block piers, allowing the ‘breezeblock’ screen to be uniform and continuous – a veil to the various back-of-house amenity within.

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The edges of the building soften at its corners – furry, a mass of blockwork hopes to appear as filigree. The building is reductive – without glass or internal lining, celebrating structure as ornamentation.

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The project hopes to champion uncommon approaches to common building materials.