Architecture stars align to bring music school to Monash

The Kauffman Centre in Kansas City.

ONE of the world's most respected architects has been lured to Melbourne to design an $80 million state-of-the-art school of music for Monash University.

Buildings by Boston-based ''starchitect'' Moshe Safdie look like radical visions of the future (by someone with a very earthly love of concrete). One of these distinctive sculptural spaceships is due to land in mid-2016 at the entrance to Monash's Clayton campus.

Construction is due to start in early 2014, and will include a 600-seat concert hall, atrium and outdoor amphitheatre, as well as a jazz club, recording studio and teaching facilities.

Funded by Monash, the state and federal governments and philanthropists including property developer Albert Dadon, the design is also a collaboration with local firm Fender Katsalidis.

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''Located at the gateway of Monash Clayton, it will also be a community facility - a great coup,'' says Mr Dadon, who is also a successful musician.

The design concept for the new Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music will not be revealed until October 23, but Mr Safdie describes it as an ''extroverted [complex that] affords a dramatic view into the life within the building''. Mr Dadon calls the design ''futuristic without being science fiction''.

The architect says lessons learnt from the Kansas City performing arts centre he designed, which opened last year, will be applied to the Monash building. These include handling the acoustic challenges of optimising natural and amplified sound, but may also hint at its outward appearance: the Kauffman Centre has a distinct resemblance to the Sydney Opera House, with the ''sails'' modified by Mr Safdie's signature stepped angles, and an extensive use of glass.

The announcement is evidence of a wider trend of high-profile international architects working on local university projects, says former Architecture Australia editor Justine Clark.

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Architecture stars align to bring music school to Monash