Summary
MONASH ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL
Location: Caulfield Campus, Melbourne, Australia.
Type: Institutional Fitout
Size: 1200 sq m
Status: Construction Complete
Description
This project for Monash University houses the newly created Architecture Department within the Faculty of Art and Design – the first new school of architecture in Australia for 30 years. The brief called for spaces that comprised flexible design studios, academic and research offices, administration and meeting rooms, a CAD/CAM laboratory and a series of informal areas for students and staff. The design commenced as an exploration of pedagogical scenarios specific to the study of architecture. The scenarios, translated as varied sectional conditions, were inscribed in highly populated zones of the plan through a series of faceted walls that lofted from one scenario to another. Constructed of hard-wearing rubber sheet and bulletin-board for the display and presentation of student work, these walls also simultaneously function as bench seat, work bench, model stand or projection screen. The plan developed as an antidote to the mono-functional approach to circulation typical of educational institutions. The double loaded corridor is transformed into an ambiguous extended zone of informal teaching and learning spaces – an interior that celebrates collegiality and the serendipitous encounter as critical to a vibrant school of architecture.
Credits
Design: WSH
Design Team: Steve Hatzellis, Andrew Simpson, Owen West, Stephan Bekhor, Dennis Prior, Eugene An, Ellie Farrell and Olena Demyanenko.
Collaborators: Dirk Anderson of UFO
Client: Monash University
Project Manager: Sylvia Hadjiantoniou
Advisors: Prof. Andrew Benjamin, Karen Burns and Jo Dane.
Services: Murchie Consulting
Acoustics: Marshall Day
DDA: Blythe-Sanderson
Structural: TDC