Architects:DesignInc

Area :2700 m²

Year :2022

Photographs :Dianna Snape

City : East Melbourne

Country : Australia

Repurposing a distinctive heritage building, DesignInc Melbourne has delivered a state-of-art training facility for Victoria’s leading educators. The $16.8m fit-out reflects the prestigious professional development programs offered by the Academy and the importance of the teaching profession. “Our client's vision was to position the Academy as a place for the best of the best”. Christon Batey-Smith, DesignInc Director. " It was an exciting idea", said Christon, "We regularly create education facilities for students, but this project is a place for educating educators. The concept of excellence was inspiring."

A historic 3-level building, built in 1858 and located in Melbourne's Treasury precinct, has been transformed into a state-of-the-art, contemporary adult learning and teaching facility. Victorian architecture and the gravitas of the Academy were inspirational. The powerful legacy of the heritage building is the foundational story of the new fit out, creating a sense of place that is both memorable and rewarding. "We all know good teachers are instinctive storytellers. We aimed to motivate these amazing educators and planned the interiors narrative as a learning journey that resonates and emboldens them". Design Architect, Jane Sayers, DesignInc Principal.

The conceptual design framework imagines a creative journey linking all levels and spaces of the three-level building, symbolizing the interconnection between past, present, and future. The idea is united by a new linking stair inserted in an existing heritage lightwell that expresses the creative journey. As a connector of time and space, the link embodies light, creativity, nature, memories, and hope. DesignInc related the building’s three levels to a tree in a landscape, with the basement as the roots and earth, the center as the trunk, and the top level likened to the canopy - outward-looking and light. That narrative is layered with biophilic elements that express nature in the building fabric.

Taking the idea further, DesignInc imagined the three layers as a metaphor for time. The basement with its bluestone walls is quite dark and atmospheric; it represents the past. It houses the library and is a quiet place for independent research, study, and investigation. The center layer represents the present. It's the entry-level of the building and has a flexible welcome lounge that is a social meeting point. The top layer represents the future; it's where most of the teaching happens. It has more embellishment, adaptable spaces, and transparency.

The innovative learning and teaching spaces in the Academy reflect the range of settings encountered in contemporary education, including blended face-to-face and digital learning models. Integrating adaptability and transparency is a core value of the Academy. We translated this with flexible spaces that support a range of learning modes from individual learning, small group collaboration, and large group/lecture settings, to remote learning. DesignInc brought 'hackable spaces' into the mix, with a zone where teachers can push their ideas to the limits and prototype concepts in real space. The hackable space invites forward thinking and gives educators the freedom to test, showcase, research, investigate, and play in spaces that are easily reconfigured. Christon summed up, "We don't see the Academy as a static project. This facility will evolve over time if we have done our job well. We imagine the future of teaching as a process of constant change."

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