The HC Coombs Building was one of the first permanent buildings on the Acton Campus. The design was completed by Mockridge, Stahle and Mitchell and construction took place for much of the 1960s, with additional design work completed in the early 1970s by architects Anthony Cooper & Associates. 

The Coombs Building is one of the most well-known on the Acton Campus, with its distinctive hexagonal design. It was designed as the new home for the Research School of Pacific Studies and Research School of Social Sciences, which had been housed in the Old Hospital Buildings on the Acton Peninsula.

Of the six designs that were shortlisted, two were seriously considered and both were based on a hexagonal design. The first was a design by the Grounds, Romberg and Boyd and the second was a design by Mockbridge, Stahl and Mitchell. 

Ultimately, the latter was selected as it best allowed for future expansion. This was demonstrated when the original design, which consisted of two hexagonal buildings, was expanded with the addition of a third hexagonal building to house a lecture theatre and laboratory.    

The building’s name was a tribute to Herbert Cole “Nugget” Coombs, a renowned economist and public servant and ANU Chancellor from 1968 to 1976. Coombs was also highly influential in the establishment of the University.  

One of the most remarkable and memorable publications on this landmark heritage building is The Coombs: A House of Memories. This series of essays by past and present inhabitants of the building, co-edited by the Late Professor Brij Lal of CHL, is a "fly-on-the-wall peek" into ther history and journey of not just the building, but its relationship with so many people it was home to over the years. 

The Coombs Building Refurbishment Project is an exciting infrastructure project designed to transform teaching and working spaces at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University.