Well, that was amazingly quick! From nothing to a shell of a building, to being open in what seems just a matter of weeks. The Arts West Redevelopment is the Faculty of Arts’ most significant infrastructure project in recent years. It has created new and dynamic teaching and learning spaces for students and staff.
Arts West is the new home of the Bachelor of Arts, giving our undergraduates access to world-class spaces, and equipping our academic staff with a new purpose-built teaching and research environment. The building combines the existing West Wing (former 1990s building) and a new North Wing containing state-of-the-art learning spaces. The North and West Wing are linked by the Atrium, an expansive, light-filled space with a suspended central staircase giving access to the upper levels and the basement Lecture Theatre.
The building has direct walkway connections to the Baillieu Library, which is central to teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences. The project commenced in December 2014 and was completed in July 2016, ready for teaching in Semester 2, in August 2016.
In the metal fins on the Arts West facade you will find the impressions of five selected artworks and artefacts fundamental to knowledge. These images represent an array of cultures, eras and viewpoints, and illustrate the relationship between the Faculty of Arts and the intellectual, cultural and historical traditions that underpin our research and teaching. Each artwork and artefact has been selected for its significance to the history of the Faculty, for its disciplinary breadth and for its ability to aesthetically adapt to the architectural concept. The final design is a balance of images and ambiguous shapes. By spacing the images out across the façade, the distinction between figure and abstraction, between object image and background is blurred.
The final images are abstract, encouraging exploration and interpretation – like the process of enquiry and revelation which underpins learning and discovery.
Master of Environment 