R. J. Ferguson and Gordon Stephenson were commissioned in 1971 as architects and planners for the new Murdoch University. A Campus Plan was produced in 1973 and construction of the first group of buildings was completed for the university to open in 1975.

The first buildings included a library with facilities for administration, three lecture theatres, physical and social science buildings and a staff and students amenities building. A veterinary science building was added in 1977. These buildings were awarded a Royal Australian Institute of Architects Citation in 1975 and an ACROD Merit Award in 1977.

R.J. Ferguson & Associates continued as campus architects from 1980 to 1992 and were involved in several reviews of the campus plan between 1985 to 1990. In 1987, Ferguson Architects was recognised as participant of the professional team responsible for the excellence in civic design at Murdoch University which was awarded the Western Australian Civic Design Award 1986.

In 2001 Ferguson Architects were engaged to produce a masterplanning document for the University. The primary purpose of this document was to look at the feasibility of consolidating Murdoch University’s administration offices. Over the years development had been reasonably ad hoc and the exercise was intended to rectify some of the problems which were resulting from these ad hoc moves.

This exercise involved the close working of Ferguson Architects with a number of stakeholders and investigating how the proposed changes could be adopted while maintaining operations and causing minimum disruption to all building users. On completion of the masterplanning document a number of projects were undertaken. One of these was the relocation of the International Relations
Department into the former Bank West premises on campus.