VO 1: The new QUT Science and Engineering Centre opened in 2013 for the university community.
After some years of planning and construction, staff and students are excited to experience
the centre’s innovative and purpose-built facilities.
VO 2: The building has been designed with four major concepts as a guiding force:
• to use science and technology to engage the interest of the public and potential students
• to create spaces where researchers can work together
• to establish several state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories
• and most importantly, to provide students with every resource necessary to stimulate
their education.
VO 3: Just inside the impressive entry doors is The Cube, one of the world’s largest
digital interactive learning and display spaces.
It is part digital display and part science lab, with content that provides a visual and
interactive representation of QUT’s research.
VO 4: Through workshops, labs and digital tours, the Cube transforms the way high school
students engage with learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
ST1: Gavin Winter: “In terms of attraction, it’s
a physical attraction too.
If you’re passing by, the Cube is designed to sparkle and bring you in.”
VO 5: The Cube consists of six separate display zones, the largest of which is a spectacular
forty-six feet long by nearly thirty feet high.
The zones are split between edge blended projected images (on top) and dozens of interactive
multi-touch monitors lower down.
ST2: Michael Docherty: “It’s a place that’s
going to showcase science and technology.
It’s a place that’s going to inspire people because you can tell by the people who are
behind us now – they come around the corner and they just go “wow” because it is actually
inspiring – there’s no doubt about it.”
VO 6: The Cube is just one of the many features in the Science and Engineering Centre designed
to provide an inspiring, explorative and hands on experience of QUT’s research.
VO 7: By taking a tour though the viewing galleries surrounding the research labs, visitors
can experience how researchers involve the community in their work.
The galleries were incorporated into the design of the centre to raise awareness of QUT’s
research capabilities, as well as a community interest in science.
ST 3: Ian Mackinnon: “There’s no room here for
shy scientists in the laboratory, they’ll be seen and heard and that is very much part
of the design intent.”
VO 8: Instead of traditional offices for each person the open plan spaces are an important
design element.
The advantage of having research spaces built in an open plan is to encourage collaboration
between researchers.
Groups of related researchers can be brought together in a neighborhood, and located near
another cluster or neighborhood.
ST 4: Ian Mackinnon: “Of course you can have open
plan in a small environment but if you have a large enough facility such as this, you
can then at the same time build a critical mass of researchers that have their core knowledge
within a specific discipline but who might then engage and collaborate across those disciplines
and develop an inter-disciplinary cohort of activity.
Of course that’s the reason we have this institute, the institute is driving towards
inter-disciplinary research in a collaborative fashion to address the grand challenges that
we have in this century.”
VO 9: The four immersive learning spaces feature a unique “visual canvas”.
Instead of standard projection screens, with only one source to a projector, any image
can be placed, scaled or stretched anywhere across the entire front wall.
ST 5: Gordon Howell: “These theatres are really
about empowering students.
So what is unique about them is we’ve taken a tiered theatre, and we’ve made them a
collaborative, engaging space.”
VO 10: These new learning spaces hold up to 250 students.
They are equipped with wireless internet, sufficient for each student to bring their
own device, to engage with the lecturer and as part of a study group.
This engagement is enhanced with interactive tools including Go Soapbox, which allows polling,
sharing of ideas and raising questions with the lecturer during the session.
ST 6: Gordon Howell: “This is P 505, one of our
new collaborative learning spaces.
Each collaborative learning space has a standard podium.
The podium has a document camera, it has radio mics for both sound re-enforcement and audio
capture.
It has lecture capture provided by an appliance device.
It has a house PC with the standard suite of software applications on it and it has
an AMX controller which allows you to bring your own laptop or device and connect it into
the system.”
VO 11: To share content with the student screens, the image from the podium can be easily sent
to all COWs or Collaborative Workstations.
The COW changes the locus of control in the room from being lecturer-driven, to being
controlled by the groups of students accessing each COW.
ST 7: Gordon Howell: “The COW is the digital fireplace
or the interface between the students and the rest of the class.
The students can access material either from the internet, from their learning shell or
they can generate the material from within their group.”
ST 8: Ian Mackinnon: “This is a wonderful, inviting,
collaborative environment that has met the design intent.”