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Faculty of Arts and Design Join to Create More Flexible Learning Spaces at City Campus

Faculty of Arts and Design Join to Create More Flexible Learning Spaces at City Campus

One of the strategic focus areas (SFA) of the Durban University of Technology’s strategic plan is building sustainable student communities of living and learning.

This SFA became the focus of the library’s attempts to re-purpose the existing library building and make it a space that students would gravitate towards.

With the financial assistance of the Faculty of Arts and Design the library forged ahead and started the project which culminated in the launch of the new space on 16 August 2017. The project would not have been made possible without the involvement of DUT staff such as Lucille Webster (Director: Library Services) Dr René Smith (Executive Dean), Dr Rapeane-Mathonsi (research coordinator, Siza Radebe (Manager: Site Libraries), Nozipho Majola (site coordinator) and Megan Parker (Interior Design Master’s student).

Speaking about the project, Siza Radebe, Manager: Site Libraries: said the launch was part of a larger project that is currently running across all DUT libraries.  “The difference with this project is that it is a collaborative effort with the Faculty of Arts and Design. The space in the basement of the library has been transformed into vibrant study areas and group discussion rooms. Dr René Smith and Dr Maleshoane Rapeane-Mathonsi together with the library staff at City Campus provided input to Megan Parker who coordinated the whole project,” said Radebe.

Giving an overview of the project, Director of the Library Services, Lucille Webster said, the journey to repurpose all libraries across all campuses started in 2013/2014, and the aim is to complete this across all six campuses by January 2018.

“We were inspired to start this with the release of the DUT strategic plan in 2014. This document articulates the purpose of the University to help students reach their full potential, to contribute to building a safe and learning society, and we focused in on that to provide an enabling living and learning environment. We interrogated our library set up across all campuses and studies show how students used the library spaces. Despite financial constraints on the part of the library, we are glad to say that we have transformed the space into dynamic research and learning spaces with the help of FAD. We successfully completed the repurposing of the Brickfield library earlier in the year, and the BM Patel Library on the ML Sultan campus is now in the final stages of completion. We thank FAD faculty and the leadership in particular for embracing the library as a space for teaching and learning,” she said.

Prof Sibusiso Moyo, DVC of Research, Innovation and Engagement, was also very excited with the launch, adding that DUT needs to create space where students can engage in their learning. She also encouraged DUT staff to keep pushing students to research, as much can be done if everyone puts their creative minds together.

Dr Smith, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design said that she was honoured to have been part of the project. “We came across the work of Interior Design Master’s student, Megan Parker which was actually saying we love our library but it is not inviting to us. Her research showed students do want spaces where they can talk and work, they also need a quiet space as well as a space to engage. We are only showing you (DUT staff and students) the beginning of a bigger project of repurposing and designing our library space,” she said excitedly.

The student whose work became the benchmark for the project, Interior Design Masters’ student, Megan Parker, added that she was very happy for many reasons because nothing was more rewarding then seeing her design come to life. She thanked everyone who helped her with the project and in believing in her. “I hope that the spaces really provide students with a place that can become their own, somewhere they can focus, collaborate, where people from my generation can feel are most conducive to learning. I found a passion in design for learning spaces because I used to be really bored in spaces of learning. I feel universities should drive spaces where students should feel engaged, immersed in learning, inspired and want to study and become life-long learners. This is a stepping stone and I really look forward to working more with this project,” she said excitedly.

Students and staff are encouraged to come along to view and make use of the spaces which is now open from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Fridays.

Pictured: DUT staff, at the launch.

—Waheeda Peters

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