This month we are showcasing two very different schools that have recently welcomed students to brand new purpose-built facilities. Although these two projects were of divergent scale and located in contrasting environments, they share the same design ethos as the rest of our education projects, foremost being the creation of spaces that work – in refurbishment and adaptive reuse, as well as new construction. Having been active in the education sector for over thirty years, Hayball has been a part of a dramatic evolution in education philosophy and pedagogy. Our research-based approach ensures the process of education design is founded on understanding, intelligence and rigour.
Keith Jones Learning Centre at Mentone Grammar
The Keith Jones Learning Centre at Mentone Grammar adaptively utilised an existing gymnasium to deliver innovative Year 5 and 6 education facilities including a film studio, technology hub, presentation and event space. The redundant single level building was transformed into a two-level facility, effectively doubling the floor area and allowing significant longevity. With a strong focus on student wellbeing, “hands on” and individualised learning, the project provides middle school students with learning environments that encourage problem-solving, collaboration, creativity and lifelong learning.
The design responds to the challenges of contemporary education, based on a deep understanding of pedagogical thinking and its spatial manifestation. It delivers both formal and informal spaces supporting various modes of teaching and learning, ensuring that learning environments are visually connected, purposeful spaces, where students ‘own’ their learning environment. Materials including concrete, timber and powder-coated steel were selected to create an industrial look and feel with the insertion of colour in specific areas. The industrial look is emphasised by displaying the finishes to expose the existing building, structure and building services. This peeling back also enables the building itself to be used as a learning tool.
Newhaven College’s Senior School +Specialist Facility
Founded in 1980, Newhaven College is an independent, co-educational school from Foundation to year 12 and is the only secondary school located on Phillip Island. Hayball was tasked with providing an updated masterplan for the school, bringing the entire campus of 1100 students together at their new Phillip Road Campus—a significant project that forms the final piece of the puzzle for the school.
Responding to an original brief that specified two separate facilities, Hayball approached the project as a single building existing across two sites. Exhibiting a similar form architecturally, the new buildings have been designed as one building, separated by the existing campus road, yet integrated through a distinctive design response.
The two buildings comprise a senior learning centre for years 10 to 12 alongside a specialist facility for Science, Arts, Technology and Media. This state-of-the-art facility houses specialised settings that facilitate design and prototyping, electronics, robotics, coding, fabrication, design, multimedia, printing and fabrication. Both buildings provide purposeful learning environments and support the broad-based pedagogy of the school by incorporating informal spaces for smaller groupings, and allowing for more collaborative study-based work.
Newhaven College: Designing a school to battle the elements of Phillip Island published by Architecture and Design
Hayball Completes trio of contemporary education projects published by Build Australia