Arts Precinct

In addition to flexible open classroom spaces that can be used for a wide range of teaching and learning activities, the arts precinct features specialised spaces that enable us to blend theory and practice and implement our signature learning and teaching methodologies, including team and object-based learning.

Examples of these bespoke learning spaces include:

• the Macquarie University History Museum
• a digital lab
• language centre with immersive and collaborative spaces
• ideas hub, enabling students to produce professional quality video and audio recordings
• Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies, housing over 5,000 coins and a dedicated numismatic library.

The precinct also features welcoming spaces where students can work independently or collaboratively, including:

• consulting booths
• group tables
• technology-enabled lounges
• café and outdoor tables.

A beautiful undercover rooftop terrace is also used by students to study or socialise.

The precinct includes:

• a collection of flexible spaces for events such as conferences, symposia and seminars
• a mix of focused and collaborative work-spaces for our academic and professional staff.

The precinct showcases the Faculty's contributions to teaching and research in humanities, law, arts and social sciences, locally and globally.

The spaces have been built to invite interaction with peers, partners, students and the community, while our new enhanced learning facilities also enable transformational learning experiences in a research-enriched environment.

The move to the arts precinct in April 2020 signifies the coming-together of the faculty as a community. Welcoming spaces provide the backdrop for chance encounters, meaningful conversations and new collaborations.

The openness and transparency of the design is a key feature of the arts precinct that encourages the interconnectedness that is a hallmark of our scholarly and educational approach. Staff, students and visitors can look up the grand staircase in Building B from the ground floor to the top and can use the staircase to access the wings of our departments.

There is a balance between areas for independent academic work and others that encourage collaborative activity and study. Academic offices are secure and quiet but all have a glass window looking onto a shared workspace to encourage staff interactions and welcome students. These more private areas flow through to flexible collaborative work and study spaces (including meeting rooms, informal meeting areas and group tables) and less formal spaces where staff and students can confer or socialise. All areas are light and inviting.

The precinct brings the faculty's important work out from behind closed doors and enables it to better engage with the University, community and external partners.

The precinct is a space where we are proud to receive and host our guests. It includes many features that will enable this engagement with spaces that are flexible and can accommodate different types of events and explore innovative ideas with each other.

These include:

• the café and courtyard
• readers and writers lounge
• the rooftop garden which has turned the top of Building C into a peaceful retreat that can be used as a staff and student breakout space, a place for events and a meeting place that will welcome our external partners and broader community to enjoy the sunshine among the plants.

The museum is a superb space that brings together ancient and modern collections aligned with our research and teaching programs.

It includes:

• fixed and flexible exhibition spaces
• analog and digital displays
• state-of-the-art storage
• an object-based learning room
• curatorial spaces welcoming staff, students, researchers, and the community.