Designing School With Students In Mind

School design is rapidly evolving as architects and educators combine to create spaces that enhance students’ learning. “We’ve seen a shift in educational environments in the last decade,” says Dua Green, director of AJC architects in Chippendale, the education lead of her firm and responsible for many school projects across NSW. “The built environment works to support innovation in learning with a focus on student wellbeing, caring for the whole student while also increasing learning engagement.”

The new Reddam House North Sydney campus is one example of AJC architects’ active promotion of sustainable design. This project has repurposed a seven-storey office building, Simsmetal House, designed by Harry Seidler in 1971. “By not demolishing the original building, we’re giving it a new life as a school which we have restored but also reimagined,” Green says. “This greatly reduces the environmental impact. And this project also poses the question: as cities get denser, how do we get more education spaces into the city? And is this the way?”

The existing office building had already been designed along appropriate passive design principles, with features such as substantial access to natural daylight and shading.

The existing stepped form had a series of rooftop terraces providing opportunity for play and external learning areas. The more recent additions of automated lighting and temperature control have motion and daylight sensors to reduce power.

Reddam House deputy principal Nick Jolly says he is happy that the architects have done so much to maximise the outdoor terraces, including the large area on the roof with harbour views. “We felt it was important for our students in a vertical campus to be in the fresh air often throughout the day,” he says.

This means the outdoor design maximises the opportunities for green spaces with much planting to create vertical hanging gardens to soften the hard cityscape in parallel to construction.

Breakout areas with modular seating enable students to socialise on the terraces, while flexible learning areas mean teachers can take their classes for walks out onto the terraces, particularly in subjects such as design, visual arts, science and geography.

“The different uses of the building itself throughout its life can be used as a teaching tool for learning, particularly about sustainability,” Jolly says. “So we’re very excited about that.”

Internally, the AJC architect’s design included knocking out many original walls to create more open-plan and flexible learning spaces. All are technologically enhanced, including five science labs, music studios and design and technology areas.

“We have a special area which we call our ‘metaverse’ where students can engage with robotics, virtual reality headsets and AI learning tools that respond to their learning needs,” Jolly says. “It was very important in our conversations with the architects to include this space.”

Another AJC project that takes regenerative design to the next level is a residential immersion facility belonging to Newington College. The school’s Eungai Creek campus sits on a 200-hectare property on the NSW mid-North Coast.

The architects have designed eight cabins housing eight students each. Here, year 9 students will spend a term in a unique social service program. But they will have no mobile devices and learn how to be more self-sufficient: including doing their own cooking and cleaning.

The facility will also be used for outdoor education and a bespoke environmental curriculum. “These buildings are designed with sustainability at their heart,” Green says. “In this case, the school insisted that we touch the site lightly so the buildings float above the ground utilising carbon-conscious materials.” Green says there is much research that supports the connection between biophilic design and enhanced concentration, wellbeing and mental health, not only in schools but across the population.

The concept is even included in the recommendations of the government’s National Aged Care Design Principles and Guidelines. One project reflecting this idea is an independent school building in Wahroonga, used for arts and science. Utilising aspects of biophilic design, it has is a strong connection with the outside, which is brought into the building visually and physically through the choice of colour palettes, construction materials and passive design.

The school’s brief was to retain the natural setting and its 32 mature trees – some of which were remnant blue gum forest and large figs. “Weaving the building among those trees, right next to the tree trunks, gives the students a visual link to nature,” Green says. “This, along with huge south-facing skylights that look up into the canopies of the trees, provides mental breaks between the lessons for students to reconnect with the outdoors.”

Written by Melinda Ham