Magic Lanterns

New book on learning space design

catherine — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:10:47 +0000

Last week I attended the launch of a new book on learning space design, Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces in Higher Education, co-edited by my former colleagues Kay Souter and Matt Riddle from La Trobe University; Mike Keppell, the third editor, was unfortunately unable to make the trip over to Melbourne from W.A.

Appropriately, La Trobe’s Vice-Chancellor, Paul Johnson, launched the book in the newly-refurbed library space at La Trobe’s Bundoora campus. In his speech, he emphasised that learning spaces for the twenty-first century must serve the needs and interests of multiple and sometimes competing constitutents, in a changing context for higher education.

The book is an offshoot from a project on learning spaces funded by the (now-defunct) Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Learning spaces evoke complex questions that are best approached through interdisciplinary perspectives and conversations. Accordingly, the Spaces for Knowledge Generation Project, involved a multi-disciplinary partnership between La Trobe University, Charles Sturt University, Apple, and Kneeler Design Architects.

The SKG project used generative activities including an international study tour, interviews, seminars, and participatory design to create a set of principles for learning space design. Those principles – Comfort, Aesthetics, Flow, Equity, Blending, Affordances, and Repurposing – attempt to address the multiple dimensions and stakeholders involved in learning space design, use, and evaluation.

Congratulations to Mike, Kay and Matt on the book!

Research Scholarship in Learning Environments

catherine — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:51:19 +0000

A Masters-level research scholarship is available at the University of Melbourne, to study the role of learning environments in architectural education.

Funding for this post has been secured through the University of Melbourne’s Strategic Research Australian Postgraduate Awards scheme (STRAPAs). This is a prestigious scheme, specifically designed to help foster interdisciplinary research and innovative approaches.

The candidate will conduct interdisciplinary research in Architecture and Education, and will be jointly supervised by staff from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, and the Centre for the Study of Higher Education.

Interested? Please contact me to discuss the project: chowell [at] unimelb dot edu dot au.

Image credit: jisc_infonet on Flickr.com. Some rights reserved.

BODYSPACE 1 at BMW Edge

catherine — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:49:59 +0000

Last Friday, I attended the informal launch of the BODYSPACE 1 exhibition, which showcases cutting edge trends in digital design practice. Students in the ‘Virtual Environments’ subject in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne worked hard to produce this fantastic show, directed by Stanislav Roudavski and Annie Walsh.

Part of the Light in Winter festival curated by Robyn Archer, BODYSPACE 1 offers intriguing glimpses into the possible futures of design, fashion, and architecture. Some shots of the exhibition installation are on my photosite.

The text of the information flyer for the show highlights a poetic vision for design. In language that evokes the theoretical work of Bachelard, it posits a future world in which design is not simply “responsive” to the needs of its environments and users, but where design work can actually create holistic environments: “What is architectural designs could grow like trees in a forest or shift as beach sand?…”

The exhibition shows a series of glossy white mannequins, posed in the “in-between” fractal zone of the BMW Edge exhibition space. Each mannequin is wearing a LED-powered white paper lantern with an intricate “cut-out” design, generating complex patterns of light and shadow. The lantern shapes reference diverse historical periods; some are wholly futuristic; all elucidate particular lines of flight in relation to design thinking.

Welcome to colleagues from Tohoku University

catherine — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 04:43:20 +0000

Over the past week, CSHE has been fortunate to host a visting delegation of staff and students from Tohoku University in Japan. Our guests will be participating in a tailored professional development programme introducing them to current issues and topics in higher education.

On Thursday 10 March, I will be teaching two sessions for our visitors on e-learning topics:

Collaborative learning using technology
Principles of design for online programs

I look forward very much to meeting and working with our visitors!

Reflections on Design Made Trade

catherine — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:25:00 +0000

Still reeling from the creative diversity at Design Made Trade, a trade fair run as part of the State of Design festival. Held in the gorgeous surrounds of the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, this event offered a whistle-stop tour of innovations in Victorian design and design thinking. (Not forgetting our Belgian visitors, from the excellent Design:Made:Flanders stand!)

‘Education’ was not really a buzzword at this event, but ‘community engagement’ certainly was – particularly, engagement with environmental themes. And the most iconic material that emerged from this event would have to be, not FSC-certified timber, not some kind of techno-laminate, but plain old cardboard.

The best examples of this meeting of ‘wisdom of the crowd’ and environmental values came perhaps from Makedo. What a great project. It’s all about community and creativity, as much as it is about all things ‘green’. The Makedo concept is very simple – it consists of a set of plastic ‘pins’, that can be used to create assemblages of existing materials. It’s all about doing more with less, and recognising the value of the stuff that surrounds us.

Or if that sounds too worthy, there is always Baking Architecture – a fun collaboration between architects and chefs. This project created some of the best news headlines, and unexpected visual/sensory textures, of any festival event. (Sensibly, the curators enclosed the baked/built creations safely inside plexiglass-style boxes, to foil any inquisitive taste-testings).

Check out some photos of the event from Design Files.

Is Liquid Architecture finished?

catherine — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:55:16 +0000

So, the Liquid Architecture 10 festival has just ended in Melbourne. I wrote a review of the final concert, held last night at the Melbourne Planetarium, which will probably be published somewhere. Intriguing venue. But will it be the last Liquid Architecture? The last festival, at least, in its current format. The Director, Nat Bates, strongly hinted at this in his closing speech last night. It’s true, ten years is a long time – in terms of digital media, certainly, it’s a cultural institution – but this has been an important festival for Melbourne and Australia, and I for one would be sorry to see it go.

Brand new site

catherine — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:02:36 +0000

Well, it took a while, but this site, a replacement for my old site at the University of Cambridge, is finally up and running. I’ll be using this site to post about my work at La Trobe University and my scholarly research interests and activities. This doesn’t mean that my other blog, Ida Takes Tea, has been entirely mothballed. Let’s say, for now, that the strategy on how to manage the two is evolving.