Business School Design

At the moment I am in the Mill Theatre 2 of the Melbourne Business School (MBS), where I am taking part in a "Climate Services Think Tank". This is my second visit to the MBS, as about a decade ago I attended a IT management live in short course. The MBS resembles a modern interpenetration of a monastery, crossed with an airport executive lounge. It has a courtyard, somewhat like a cloister, sparsely furnished bedrooms on the upper floors for live-in students, various classrooms and places to eat. The building is more upmarket in its feel than the average university building and more self-contained.

Mill Theatre 2, where I am sitting, holds about 40 people, sitting at six rectangular tables. The tables are each made up of two narrow tables (with folding legs) each about 600 x 1800 mm. There are wheeled gas lift high backed chairs with arms and wheels (the chairs and desks squeak, which is a problem). There is ceiling mounted unit projecting on to the white wall. There are freestanding white boards and flip charts. The room can be divided into two with a folding wall. The door is partly frosted glass. There is WiFi, but only for registered users (no EduRoam).

The room is very comfortable and usable. Some improvements would be to:

1. Remove the furniture squeaks: Adjust or replace the chairs and tables, to stop them squeaking. This might just require adding some rubber strips and tightening some screws.
   
2. Apply whiteboard paint to the walls and add a hanging rail: This will remove the need for the freestanding white boards and flip charts. This would remove some clutter and tripping hazard.
3. EduRoam WiFi: Provide EduRoam for academic visitors.
4. Rounded desks: Cut the corners from the desks to make them rounded. This will make the room seem much larger.