Factory of the Future is an experiential learning and innovation environment within Western Sydney University’s Bankstown City Campus that redefines how emerging technologies are explored, taught, and translated into real-world applications. The fitout transforms a complex, technical brief into a coherent, intuitive, and inspiring learning space that empowers students as active participants in the discovery of emerging technologies and their applications.

The project establishes an immersive platform for invention, creativity, and collaboration, where innovation is visible and approachable. Students, researchers and the community are able to see, touch, and engage with the ideas and processes shaping the future.

An Experiential Learning Environment

The facility integrates advanced technology, applied research, and workforce development in a single, cohesive environment. Learners engage directly with advanced manufacturing, robotics, and digital processes in spaces designed for experimentation, prototyping, research, and collaboration. Central to the design is a pedagogical ambition to reveal rather than conceal emerging technologies, making them visible, approachable and inspiring for the next generation.

Structured across two interconnected levels, the design unfolds through a series of luminous thresholds that transition occupants from the everyday campus into a more immersive, future-focused setting.

The Discovery Space on the lower level introduces foundational Industry 5.0 principles through hands-on workshops and collaborative zones. Above, the Immersive Training Hub accommodates advanced prototyping laboratories, virtual and augmented reality suites, and flexible research environments for deep skill development and industry engagement.

The Innovation Engine

Working within the constraints of an irregular floor plate and a vertical campus, HDR developed a circular spatial logic inspired by Bankstown’s industrial and aeronautical heritage. This spatial strategy connects the two levels and choreographs a clear learner journey toward the project’s centrepiece: the Innovation Engine – an 8.6-metre kinetic, propeller-like installation prototyped and fabricated locally. Its rotating turbine reveals inner mechanisms that draw students into fabrication, engineering and spatial learning.

Acting as both a navigational cue and a didactic device, the Engine translates complex advanced manufacturing concepts into an approachable, dynamic and immersive learning experience. It functions not only as a sculptural statement but as a teaching device – a public expression of the region’s manufacturing history and capability.

Collaboration and Local Fabrication

The project emerged through a deeply collaborative process with Western Sydney University, Built, STAKK Studio, and local fabricators. Over 80% of all components were fabricated in Sydney, including 55% sourced within a five-kilometre radius of the facility.

Community Impact

Since opening, the Factory has extended its reach beyond tertiary education. Through Western Sydney University outreach programs, local secondary schools regularly access the space, strengthening STEM pathways and embedding the project as a community-connected, regionally significant learning hub.

A Catalyst for Innovation

The Factory builds on HDR’s 2023 completion of the broader Bankstown City Campus, a vertical learning ecosystem that brings together up to 10,000 students, 1,000 staff, and a wide network of industry partners. Together, the campus and the Factory form a new beacon for innovation in the heart of Bankstown.

Photography Credits: Western Sydney University & Mike Bell, Courtesy of Built