The Australian National Sustainability Initiative

In addition to continuous education and training of all ages, ANSI will empower the youth of Australia through engagement in activities that provide hope and inspiration, and have positive flow on effects for the wider community. It will enlist the arts, sciences and humanities in creative, interactive, virtual and experiential co-learning about nature and society. It will also provide a voice for the ‘sustainability success stories’ of bioregions around Australia.

Overarching principles

These educational design principles is based on the earlier work of the ANB Education Committee, found in the ANSI Action Plan. The educational principles are to be demonstrated in the design and operation of all aspects of the ANSI complex:

Everyone is both a learner and a teacher.
Education means sharing the power.
Education brings social change and transforms understanding of the world.
Learning brings personal growth and understanding one’s potential in the world.
Education takes place in a learning community which
- crosses generations and cultures; and
- integrates the perspectives of community, specialists, government and industry.
Co-learning generates new knowledge through:
- inspiration and adventure;
- passion and contemplation;
- observing and doing; and
- challenge and safety.

The whole of the ANSI complex will operate as a unified educational experience. The designs of the buildings and landscapes will form a transition between the built environment and the wetlands, and become part of the learning experiences.

The ANSI complex will demonstrate sustainability in relation to the whole of Australia as it contributes to the integrity of the planet. All the components of the complex will position the users, tenants, staff, members and visitors within a larger context of the global and national social and ecological profile.

Types of changing exhibitions

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Currently, the different types of exhibitions envisaged are:

Contextual exhibitions: Biohistory - history of the interaction between human culture and the biosphere – a permanent theme, but with changing displays.

Thematic exhibitions: Exhibition space will be available for hire by clients such as community and industry groups, technology manufacturers, energy suppliers, government departments. These include limited outdoor shaded pavilions for displays of working eco-technologies, like Living Machines.
Bioregional exhibitions: ANSI will include an interpretive centre to identify the assets and increase the appreciation of the local area, as well as feature other bioregions on a periodic basis. The Centre will raise the level of public appreciation of our near international neighbors and their achievements in the area of ecological sustainability. Two or three countries could be featured each year, and relevant stories from any of the neighboring countries could be presented (for example, Fiji, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) as well as the wider region.
Grounds and buildings: The grounds and buildings will be a key part of the learning experience. The landscaping will be integrated with the design and operations of the buildings. Interpretive signage will be used to provide information on ways that building design and materials can assist basic environmental services. Environmental sensors throughout the buildings and grounds will provide ‘live’ data on energy performance, water use, waste recycling and outdoor conditions.

Site specific educational principles

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The entry area should present immediate indications of the core message of the complex, in practice as well as in signage. The main building entry will be open and friendly, with symbol spaces that represent ‘Earth our only Home’, and artwork on the main theme ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet’.
The entry area should hold a memorable symbol, such as a sculpture expressing the spirit of living sustainably into the future, or an interactive feature situating the visitor on the planet, such as a human sun dial.
The exhibition areas are NOT like a museum, or a space for didactic activity. These spaces are expected to involve and engage, with participative performances, vivid art works and buildings where people welcome people as guests.
The spaces are to encourage interaction and allow people to tell their stories. These stories should take their place in the overall story represent these questions: ‘Where have we come from?’, ‘Where are we now?’, ‘Where could we go?’, ‘How can we get there?’.
The outdoor education area will demonstrate the interaction between environmental and cultural change. The landscape will provide opportunities to all ages and interests to explore indigenous nature.
Appropriate signage and physical elements will reflect the fact that the site has a history of its own, biologically and culturally.
The recreation area should contain indigenous ecosystems and areas for active educational play, such as a zeriscope ‘play garden’, and a treasure hunt with an ecological message.
The car park should remind the user of sustainable choices of transport, such as boxes of bus timetables and maps of cycle paths to and from the complex, as well as exhibits of alternative transport technologies in the temporary parking areas.
The community network building will serve as a catalyst for change. Its primary purpose will be to maximize networking, face-to-face as well as online. The networking can occur in response to displays, or performances, or people telling their stories.
A learning community will be developed to focus on exchanging experiences, simulations, problem-solving activities, drama and debate. Educational themes in the building will be sustainable development and design, global sustainability, human adaptability, human health, ecosystem health, sustainable communities including decision making and action for living sustainably.
A meeting place for 100-300 people, with flexible seating, screens, interactive panels, and capacity for theatre in the round will be provided in the community network building.
Display park of appropriate, sustainable design technology, both hard (technical) and soft (activities) should be aesthetically stimulating. All forms of visual art, drama, dance, poetry, song, and music can be integral parts of the displays, which should encourage story-telling and group discussion. It is important that the displays are linked to the foundational educational principles above, with learning crossing generations and cultures, and integrating perspectives of community, specialists, government and industry.
A viewing tower (and water wheel) will demonstrate vertical urban farming and provide a cultural history of the site.
An outdoor theatre for celebrations and public gatherings will permit the use of all forms of media, and make use of natural landscape for visual, auditory, and sensory effectiveness and pleasure.
A nature walk will accommodate more than just walking. The pathways will link the waterwheel, the waterways, the boat shed, canoe trips, outdoor theatre, the built learning places, and the viewing platforms for the wetlands. There will be thoughtful, common-sense, theme-based interpretative signs.
Eco-accommodation (primarily for students) will include recreation facilities, and spaces for exchanging experiences, and for creative work.

A Learning-by-Doing Tool for ANSI

Educational need: Currently, most people have difficulty in imagining what a sustainable built environment would entail, let alone how a development could create net positive ecological impacts. This is partly because many people are still not aware of the significance of design to sustainability. Numbers do not help some to understand how design affects a dynamic living environment. Statistics can communicate the extent of a problem, but not how much of this problem is caused by - and can be cured by - design.

One example of difficulty of teaching ecological design is that it is ‘site specific’ and therefore inherently complex. In schools, however, students are taught ‘generic’ passive principles using cross sections through a building box showing flows, such as air circulation and solar heat gain. These diagrams reinforce the idea of a building being a variation on a box. Given this (previously) necessary approach, it is hard - even for designers - to think outside this box.

Educational solution: QUT is therefore embarking on a project to develop a tangible model of the ANSI design concept linked to a virtual model that would display design impacts on computer screens via a server. That is, the proposed virtual-integrated-physical (VIP) tool would create an interactive model of the new architectural typology. The model will communicate to students, lay people and professionals how ecologically Positive Development is possible. The intent of the tool is to foster citizen awareness of, and participation in, ecological design. The new type of interactive tool would make everyone a ‘VIP’.

The ANSI design lends itself to a new educational approach. The modular structure of the centre combines modularity and adaptability with ecological functions. The walls are ecospheres containing different eco-services and ecosystems supported by and integral to vertical triangular trusses that contain other building services. Because the centre’s structure and integrated ecospheres are modular, they can be replicated by a model with moving components and myriad sensors for the many functional criteria.

Educational functions: ANSI would also house this VIP ecological design environment. By moving the components, users will see how the new architecture would perform in different configurations on the specific site, and how it could be modified to work in different climates and conditions. Because the new architecture is adaptable, people could also participate in future modifications to the building form by competing for the best performing configurations. Thus the tool would contribute to the detailed design of the ANSI project, its building management systems, and its educational displays.

In summary, the ultimate aim is a new kind of communication and education tool for Positive Development that:

Links virtual models directly to a physical model of the new architectural typology, for use by lay citizens, professionals and students alike.
Shows people how manipulating a sustainable design can alter internal environmental conditions and external impacts, and how a design would fare in different climates and weather conditions.
Supports collaborative design by enabling communication among a wider range of development stakeholders, including people trained in the biological sciences and lay citizens.
Communicates the idea that buildings must learn to support nature (not just be efficient in consumption), by providing surplus eco-services and supporting ecosystem regeneration.

Last updated January 26, 2009