The University Of Newcastle

The Challenge

The University of Newcastle approached Wild and Free Media having just acquired a new Innovation Hub. The space was set to be used as a co-working area for staff and students working on projects with a social and or economic benefit to the local region. The university was looking to design the space in a way that was inspiring and inventive and reflected the exciting work taking place there.

Wild and Free Media became involved in this project when we were asked to create a concept for a wall mural. Spanning two floors of the building, the mural was a key piece of the building’s interior design. Additionally, window decals were also to be used to capture the attention and imagination of passers-by.

ne Mason & Artists came to Wild and Free Media with a challenge that we had not yet faced as a company. We were asked to transform Newcastle’s City Hall into a more user-friendly site and disguise the current renovations taking place on the monumental building.

City Hall was still to have the same look prior to renovations, allowing the building to blend in with the current city scape, and not be overtaken by scaffolding and building work

The Wild Solution

We set out to create a visual artwork that would resonate with the users of The Hub and inspire even more incredible work. To do this it was essential that we understood the work that was being conducted by the people there. We were particularly inspired by the Lazarus Project, which was a major scientific feat, where a team of researchers successfully revived and reactivated an extinct species of frog, and were hoping to eventually bring other animals and plants out of extinction.

The mural we designed grows across the walls of The Hub, appearing like cell bodies that evolve and develop as the mural climbs upstairs. As the mural progresses, the cell bodies morph into the final form of a frog limb. We wanted this mural to be a visual representation of how an inspiring idea can evolve and ignite into something that can change the world, just like the Lazarus Project.

The window decals we designed for the exterior of the building were based around the collaborative nature of the innovation hub and reflect the existing hexagonal wall features inside the building. This hexagonal shape was important for us to carry through to the front of the building due to the connotations of collaboration the shape holds due to the link with bee hives, the ultimate collaborative society.

The result of these creative designs was a cohesive and striking hub for innovation and ingenuity that was used to position the University of Newcastle as a leader of Newcastle’s commercial future.