To unify the university’s fractured Burwood Campus in Melbourne, Woods Bagot’s Deakin Law School Building presents a sculptural and coiled learning environment. The structure serves as a beacon and gateway to the Elgar Road Precinct, providing a point of orientation, wayfinding, and an enhanced campus experience. The compelling geometry of the Deakin Law School Building came from the creative blend of learning areas housed within. Each room addresses a different new teaching style, thus replacing the traditional lecture theatre.
© Peter Bennetts
Deakin Law School Building’s Design Concept
The structure has five layers of flexible, media-rich learning areas that span the formal-informal continuum, allowing students to move fluidly between modes of learning. Technology bars, group pods, and individual spaces encourage interaction, cooperation, and private study. © Peter Bennetts
Two levels are exclusively dedicated to student assistance and health and wellness services, including locations on campus designated for student retreats and reflection. The Wellness Garden, which sits between the building and Gardeners Brook Reserve, is filled with native plants, stones, a deconstructed brook, and tiered seating. The winter garden on level five, on the other hand, offers an area high above the trees, complete with a vertical plant wall and floor-to-ceiling glass louvers. Three bigger experimental Premier Learning Spaces disrupt traditional learning typologies: ...