N2

The N2 space was jointly commissioned by the Faculty of Business & Economics and the eEducation Centre at Monash University who wanted to encourage an experimental approach to learning, enabled by embedded digital technology.

Although highly educated, graduates often lack social skills necessary for the workplace, so the conceptual generator for this project became a space of negotiation that promoted interaction and awareness of others.

Our design approach is always collaborative, so the outcomes have evolved out of a prolonged process of creation, elimination and negotiation. With the stakeholders we set out to explore the possibilities of trans-active space, based on the premise that a mutually transformative relationship can only emerge between the occupant and their environment, when that relationship is no longer passive.

Because N2 has been designed for future adaptation, the space was entirely pre-fabricated off-site. Material selection was finally determined by its suitability for pre-fabrication and ease of assembly/disassembly, meaning that future technological or teaching needs can be accommodated without destroying the existing fabric of the space.

The most exciting aspect of this project is that the built outcome does not represent the end of the process. The way in which the space has been constructed means that it can be adapted as the needs of the occupants become apparent over time.