This is a ‘student’s own’ space. Colour was used to denote the potential modes of use and to subdivide the large open plan. In lieu of fixed furniture, flexible plywood ‘hills’ and ‘caves’ form stadium, seat and amphitheatre, with loose furniture selected to provide students with the agency to adapt the space as they wish. These strategies ensured the modest budget was carefully managed through detailed early furniture cost-testing and the use of low-cost joinery fabrication techniques and materials.

The works included the salvaging and up-cycling of a substantial of materials and parts including door hardware, lighting, signage and timbers. This, coupled with detailed attention to, and upgrading of, the building’s external skin, the use of time-sensitive internal blinds to moderate solar gain, and an extensive photo-voltaic roof-mounted solar array, presents a surprisingly sustainable solution.

Tertiary Education
Teaching and Learning
Interior Design

Built by Harris HMC, engineered by SDP Consulting, photographed by Jeremy Wright Photography
Project management by RMIT Property Services