The Enlightenment Centre, MLC School

During development of a masterplan for their campus, MLC School invited BVN to develop a full scale experimental space. A prototype to test and provide important feedback for the masterplan, Enlightenment initially staged a unique 2 week program of the same moniker and is now used for professional development and shared learning space for all faculties.

Project Details

Architects
BVN

Address
MLC School, Rowley St, Burwood NSW 2134

Submitter
BVN

Cost
$235 013.00

Photographer
BVN

Project Overview

During the MLC School’s master planning process, BVN were invited to transform a cluster of traditional classrooms into an experimental prototype. This innovative learning space’s use would provide invaluable feedback, experiential testing ground for trialling pedagogies for today’s and tomorrow’s students and invaluable feedback for the master plan. In addition to this, it was to be the stage for 2011 Year 10 Enlightenment Program.

Enlightenment is a two-week program held each year for Year 10 in which the students focus on an issue or topic relevant to their world and its future, with the 2011 topic being ‘Shaping the Future of MLC’. During the project, students work in groups of 4-5 to research topics of their choice, with teachers and external experts acting as advisors guiding students through the process.

Having only the October holidays in which to transform the existing spaces and a limited budget with which to work, the scheme employed simple and clever modifications to the existing building fabric. The concept for the design drew upon feedback from student and staff workshops, an understanding of the Enlightenment program, and with the intent of enabling better collaborative working into the future. In order to create an immersive and exploratory learning environment, the character of each space responded to different learning methods, types of activities and group sizes (from 5-6 to 140 students). This resulted in the creation of The Workshop, The Retreat, Cafe, Soapbox, Studio, I-Space, Boardroom and Cinema.

This 2011 Enlightenment Program was very successful evidenced by the dynamic final presentation by students. This was held as an interactive exhibition where students utilised the whole space fully to showcase their work through performance, film, prototypes, websites and displays.

Now that The Enlightenment program is over, the space is intended to be used for professional development to train teachers and enable them to use it well. All staff will have the opportunity to work in this space to experiment and practice different ways of working, and collaborating in their work.