The 2024 – 2025 Mayfield Cohort
The Conference Keynote Presentation
Friday 9 May 2025 | LEA 3001: A Learning Space Odyssey
“What if success wasn’t an endpoint,
but an ongoing process of engagement?
Friday 9 May 2025
What if success wasn’t an endpoint, but an ongoing process of engagement?
For too long, occupancy evaluation has been treated as a box to tick – something that happens before construction or after the fact. Frameworks and toolkits attempt to measure learning spaces, yet they often focus on the built form rather than the lived experience within its walls. With time and budget constraints, teachers overburdened and architects perpetually racing deadlines, meaningful assessments are deferred to ‘when there’s time’ – which, inevitably, is never.
Mayfield 2025 brings together 16 diverse voices – architects, educators, interior and landscape architects, and a project officer – to challenge conventional evaluation methods and rethink consultation.
How do we embed continuous feedback loops into the design process to bridge the gap between architects and school stakeholders? What tools could assist schools define their own indicators for success? Can a more human-centred approach reshape how we assess and evolve learning environments? Most importantly, how do we ensure the right people are involved- and that the process is quick, easy, and impactful, to ensure spaces align with educational needs, pedagogical goals, and meaningful human experience?
We don’t have all the answers – yet. But we know that the best ideas emerge through collaboration. Join us in reimaging the future of learning environments.
Why should delegates come to the Mayfield
keynote presentation at #2025Odyssey?
Wednesday 23 April 2025
Why should you make time for the Mayfield Keynote? Simple: because it’s not just another presentation. It’s a provocation, a conversation starter, and a deep dive into the future of learning space design.
In this video, the Mayfielders – a powerhouse of 16 emerging educators, architects, designers and planners – gives you a glimpse into the questions driving their research:
- What makes a learning space truly work?
- How do we create ongoing feedback loops that actually influence design?
- How do we make sure the right voices are included, from concept to completion?
This isn’t about critiquing architecture after the fact. It’s about shifting from “checklist” evaluation to a living, breathing process – one that keeps evolving as learning does.
Their keynote on Friday 9 May at LEA 3001: A Learning Space Odyssey will leave you with questions, tools, and inspiration to take back to your own practice – no matter your role in the learning environment ecosystem.
If you want to know more about the student experience, community voice, or redefining success in education spaces……this is the session you don’t want to miss. Watch the clip, tag a colleague, and make a plan to be in the front row – your future self will thank you.
What will be the WOW factor of your research?
Thursday 10 April 2025
In this video, hear from our Mayfielders as they reveal some of the BIG ideas behind their research. Their mission? To flip the script on how we design and measure learning environments – and reimagine what success really looks like.
For too long, post-occupancy evaluation has been an afterthought. Too late. Too vague. Too focused on buildings – not the people in them. But what if we made feedback part of the process, not just a checkbox?
What if schools could define their own success – and actually be heard?
Expect bold thinking, practical insights, and a whole lot of WOW when they take the stage for their Friday morning keynote at LEA 3001: A Learning Space Odyssey.
Be there to witness ideas that challenge assumptions, spark debate, and reshape the future of learning environments. Watch. Share. Let the curiosity ripple through your networks.
What if success in learning environments wasn’t an endpoint…..
but an ongoing process of engagement?
Friday 4 April 2025
In this clip, meet the bold 2025 Mayfield cohort as they answer the question: “Why is your research so important?”……Trust us – their answers will shift your thinking
Join us on the final frontier of LEA 3001: A Learning Space Odyssey conference, Friday 9 May, as the 2025 Mayfield Project 2025 present their powerful, thought provoking keynote that reframes how we design and evaluate learning spaces – from the inside out.
These Mayfielders are asking:
– What if we embedded continuous feedback loops into the design process?
– What if teachers, students, and communities helped define success — on their terms?
– And what if evaluation was actually quick, easy, and impactful?
Whether you’re an architect, educator, or just curious about the future of learning – this is the presentation you don’t want to miss.
Forget box-ticking evaluations that happen before construction or long after the learning begins.
Three Day Strategy Workshop – Sydney, 28 February – 2 March 2025
Sunday 2 March 2025
Sydney. Three days. A gathering of architects, designers, and educators. The goal? To uncover what truly makes a learning environment successful.
This is The Mayfield Project 2025.
The focus centered on human interactions. A crucial realisation emerged early on: Success needs to be far better defined at the start of a project. Schools invest millions in buildings, but how often do they truly measure whether those spaces deliver the experiences they were meant to?
And how often is community consultation curtailed, cancelled or plain ignored in the name of cost saving or urgency, instead of being seen as a tiny proportion of investment that makes multi-million-dollar projects more likely to succeed in the long run?
That led to a tougher question: Who gets to define success? Architects admitted they can lack the credibility to evaluate the success of learning and teaching in the spaces they design. And educators often expect designers to arrive with answers, not more questions.
So rather than jumping straight into designing spaces, our teams started to define the learning experiences that could take place in them. Because in the end, a building is only as successful as the learning that happens inside it.
The Mayfield Project 2025 isn’t about drawing up blueprints. It’s about challenging assumptions, reframing the conversation, and designing from the inside out.
Article by: Ewan McIntosh, Founder & CEO – NoTosh, Scotland
Welcome to our 2024-2026 Mayfield Cohort!
Friday 18 October 2024
We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome to our 2024-2025 Mayfield Project participants, fondly named “Mayfielders”!
We received an overwhelming number of high-quality applications from across Australasia, including participants from all states and territories in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. We are excited to announce a dynamic and diverse group of 16 professionals who have joined our 2025 cohort.
Our Mayfielders represent a rich tapestry of professions, including architects, educators, project officers, designers, and landscape architects. This variety not only enhances the collaborative nature of our project but also enriches the learning experience for everyone involved.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the employers of each participant, as they support these impressive young professionals to fully participate in this unique research initiative.
The project kicked off with their first meeting in late November 2024, where participants will began to explore innovative solutions in learning environments. Additionally, we are excited to share that approximately 50% of our Mayfielders attended the 2024 Regional Day Out in Adelaide | Tarndanya. It was a fantastic opportunity for our community to engage and network.
The Mayfielders will be presenting their research project at the 23rd Annual Regional LEA Conference “LEA 3001: A Learning Space Odyssey” in Brisbane | Meanjin in May 2025, keep your eyes on our website and on our socials and grab your early bird registration to this conference, as the Mayfield Presentation is an event you absolutely need to have in your calendar to attend.
