PROFESSOR ROSS MILBOURNE: I feel an immense sense of pride, starting from where we originally
conceived this idea in design, through to its completion, it's true to that original
philosophy of creativity and technology and the vibrancy and the collaborative nature
of the spaces all have come through in this building.
The new form of education we're trying to deliver here is very much students working
on collaborative skills, on soft skills, on communication, on things that are just outside
the normal learning of the discipline, and this building does this magnificently.
It sends a message to students that the educational experience is all about them. This building
is for students.
ASHUR VARDE: Having an actual home now is going to be really great. So having specialised
areas for, exclusively for, Faculty of Engineering and IT, will be fantastic. Meeting all my
fellow engineering friends all in one place rather than, you know, going across campus.
I think the new collaborative areas and all the study areas we've got in this new building
will, you know, benefit me greatly. Because, umm, today, especially in engineering you're
not working on your own, you're always working in a group and having these skills, building
these skills at university will really prepare me for, umm, my future career in wherever
I go.
I've already found my new favourite space. And it's, there's a nice little bean bag by
the window with a great view. Just to sit there and chill, have a break, you know, maybe
take a quick nap before anyone sees.
ANNE GARDNER: One of the opportunities we have with moving into this new building is
to change the learning experience that students have. And making that learning experience
much more a chance to develop the types of skills that they will need to be the leaders
in the professions in the future.
The way this collaborative theatre is set up means that I can walk in between the rows,
I can talk to the students. I'm not going to be stuck out the front in this theatre.
I'm going to be in amongst the students.
One of the other aspects that I'm really excited about with this building is that we're going
to be able to collect real-time data about the building. The whole building has become
a real life lab for students. And for staff.
RAY CLOUT: The term living building, or living lab, arose from the technology that was installed
during the construction of the building.
We're monitoring the amount of power that the building generates for its own use, its
rain water collection, so the building we see as a living being, it's got the senses
that a human being would normally have.
The technology that we've incorporated is cutting edge in a lot of respects.
MARY-ANNE WILLIAMS: The design of the building, all the collaborative spaces, and the kinds
of technologies that we have available to us here, like the Data Arena, that will allow
our students to explore the bounds of, you know, what's possible. And, you know, we can
only imagine what they're going to come up with, you know, in two or three generations.
This building is going to be absolutely humming, you know. Full of researchers, students, people
doing really interesting things. So the moment you walk in you're going to feel like you
can do anything, right, all the resources are there. You just have to decide what you're
going to do, how you're going to change the world, how you're going to actually make a
difference.