Campus Review Volume 26. Issue 1 | Page 25

ON CAMPUS campusreview.com.au Local high school and VET students can also learn from CADET, including classes from the Gordon Institute and Belmont High School. Federal member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, says many of these partnerships hope to draw young women into engineering degrees. HOW THEY DID IT Mark Freeman, partner at Gray Puksand Architects and CADET project leader, sat down with Campus Review to discuss how the facility took shape. CR: Can you tell us a bit about what makes CADET state-of-the-art? MF: CADET was envisaged at the outset as a catalyst for the university, and was required to be capable of essentially redefining a modern design-based engineering school. They were aiming to establish a stimulating and supportive student-centred learning environment. Strategically, they wanted to integrate concepts of creativity, innovation and design very much at the heart of their curriculum. I think one of the most important aspects of CADET is it’s an integral part of their research and technology precinct down at Waurn Ponds, and it’s been able to provide the latest in simulation and visualisation equipment, which is along the lines of rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing, as well as multiple formats of 3D modelling technologies. It certainly evidences, in terms of state-of-the-art spaces, one of the largest high-voltage testing cell labs in Australia, which is capable of producing lightning, essentially, in addition to a substantial virtual reality studio with a fully customised [virtual reality] ‘CAVE’ assembly for the students, and for research. It’s a new approach to engineering education. How did your collaboration with Guy Littlefair, the de [