John Medley Living Lab - Amplifying Arts Sustainability

This project aims to establish a building-based community network to amplify infrastructure supporting sustainable workplace and teaching practices, while obtaining knowledge on barriers to utilising older spaces sustainably.

Problem statement

The JMB, constructed between 1969 and 1971, represents one of the older buildings on campus and therefore faces a range of inherent sustainability constraints. Many sustainability considerations that are now standard practice in contemporary building design, can be incorporated relatively easily during the construction of new buildings. In contrast, retrofitting these features into older structures is considerably more complex and often is not considered as an option to reconstruction of old buildings.

Recognising these challenges, this project was developed to explore how sustainability activities could be effectively scaled and applied within an existing, ageing building. The intent is to position the JMB as a ‘living laboratory’, demonstrating how older buildings can be improved to establish sustainable teaching and learning spaces.

Workshop Overview

The project utilised a series of five workshops as its primary method to explore how sustainability principles could be applied to older campus buildings, using the John Medley Building (JMB) as a living laboratory. Each workshop centred on a core sustainability theme and featured expert presentations from University specialists, collaborative activities involving staff and students, and guided group discussions.

Workshops:

• Workshop 1: Energy
• Workshop 2: Waste & Recycling
• Workshop 3: Transport
• Workshop 4: Procurement
• Workshop 5: Teaching & Learning