Architect：k20 Architecture

Location：Waurn Ponds VIC, Australia; | ;View Map

Project Year：2020

Category：Universities

In 2019 Deakin University Waurn Ponds Campus Victoria Australia, committed to a facilities refreshment program aimed at re-engaging the Arts and Education faculty and students, and providing them with a ‘home’. By repurposing the existing Building IC, k20 Architecture created Nyaal – a world class interactive learning space. We have transformed an out-of-date building into a precinct embodying the amplification of learning with awe-inspiring immersive technology enabling students to be curious, creative, collaborative, and innovative communicators. 

Positioned within a natural setting overlooking a tree lined lake, Nyaal relates to the surrounding context through a neutral, tactile material palette and organic building form. Consisting of two north facing cylindrical forms, the seamless extension complements the existing sandy masonry building with shades of grey and taupe textured façade panels. 

These wrap around the exterior thereby reducing the scale of the extension and inviting users to interact with the tactile striation as they make their way to the entrance. Internally Nyaal is comprised of a light filled break out space, a double cylindrical extension housing a world-class 360-degree projection space for specialist teaching, a think tank, a digital editing suite, and a communal rooftop garden. 

These key spaces provide the university with a flexible ‘home’, catering to a number of uses and diverse pedagogical approaches due to its interactive and multi-purpose nature. Throughout the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, teachers utilized the flexible 360-degree projection technology for virtual lectures, projecting students across a single curved screen. The interaction and collaboration in this virtual classroom environment supported remote users. The technology is being used across multiple faculties and has provided an opportunity to re-engage students and increase University brand value across courses where enrolments had previously been declining. Nyaal demonstrates how technology in a built space can challenge the boundaries of learning in a digital world.

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