Abstract:

As the online student experience evolves, The University of Melbourne, Australia has re-focused its attention on the experience it provides undergraduate students on campus. The Faculty of Arts invested in the challenge to provide a rich, memorable and meaningful experience that can't be replicated online.

The response was an exciting initiative to create a purpose built building that released the University’s significant artefact collections back into the curriculum and supported object-based learning. Object based learning provides a springboard for deep learning with improved retention and ability to recall, and importantly, a tactile experience that can't be mimicked digitally.

This idea was embraced by the Arts West Redevelopment, not only in the teaching spaces but in the manifestation of the built form, inside and out. The entire building can be curated, the learning spaces support object based learning, a range of exhibition and display spaces are dispersed throughout the building while the façade embodies the concept with impressions of artefacts from the University’s collection, alluding to the concept of object based learning which takes place within.

This approach generates a remarkable atmosphere for the learning environment, both in terms of directed and informal learning. Students don't need to go to a museum or gallery, it's all around them at the end of the corridor or by the elevators.

The circulation spaces, while obviously linking the main programmed areas, act as serendipitous pathways for chance encounters and link the formal learning spaces. The lack of delineation between informal learning areas and generous corridors is designed to foster fluid places to meet, discuss and exchange perspectives in the ebb and flow of university life. This contributes the collegial atmosphere and encourages flexible and simultaneous use of both the formal and informal, an experience that cannot be gained online.

The University is dedicated to the physical campus as its primary learning environment. With the move to flipped classrooms and blended learning, the spaces are designed to support longer duration classes and a broader range of activities in a single session. The spaces are highly adaptable and foster activity and interaction of students.

The Arts West Redevelopment was designed by Architectus and ARM and completed in 2016.

Keywords:

Learning, object based learning, flipped classroom, active learning, pedagogy and space, architecture, design, collaboration, hands on, experience, students.