Sylvia Walton Building, La Trobe University

RESEARCH BACKGROUND The Sylvia Walton Building is a project by Lyons Architecture, where Carey Lyon is a principal architect. This building at La Trobe University's Bundoora Campus is a leading-edge learning facility for local and international students. The five-level building integrates 41 'New Generation' teaching spaces with student support facilities. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Drawing on previous research, the project contributes ideas around teaching and learning into architectural design. For example, a lecture theatre has two rows of seating per tier rather than one, so that it can perform in 'interactive mode', where the students turn their chairs to face each other, such as in a tutorial; and a series of custom table types with modular geometries was designed to suit different teaching modes. It is the student and teaching experience that takes primacy, both within the building and beyond. This project builds on Lyon's expertise in designing educational buildings that encourage collaborative learning, work that Nigel Westbrook describes as 'essential to understanding Australia's architectural culture'. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The significance of the project was recognised at the 2015 Victorian Awards held by the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA), where it received Commendation for Educational Architecture. AIA awards are the most prestigious in the design and construction industry in Australia, vital to public and peer recognition of outstanding contributions in the fields of architecture and the built environment. It is peer reviewed in the professional journals the Australian Design Review and featured in Architecture Australia and the Urban Melbourne website.