This studio formed part of the multi-school A New Normal project, run collaboratively across Monash University, the University of Melbourne, and RMIT, with Finding Infinity as a project partner. The studio focused on reimagining Monash Caulfield’s Building F as a lasting home for Monash Architecture, asking how an existing campus building could be transformed from a consumer of resources into a productive, low-carbon and net-positive environment.

Students responded to a real architectural brief, developing a complete technical and spatial retrofit that integrated building systems, environmental performance, and architectural identity. The studio emphasised simple, effective strategies for reducing energy use, lowering carbon impact, and improving long-term adaptability.

Through design research, technical testing, and engagement with broader conversations around climate-positive architecture, students explored how retrofit can operate as both a practical necessity and a cultural proposition. The studio positioned architecture as an active tool for institutional change, demonstrating how existing buildings can be reworked to support new modes of learning, production, collaboration, and environmental responsibility.

Studio leader: Dr Laura Harper and Professor Nigel Bertram