Somerville Secondary College, Technical Education & Trade Training Centre
Somerville Secondary College is a Technical Education and Trade Training Centre. The design brief was a for a new facility that provided a contemporary, agile, large format working space that responded to the school’s existing specialist curriculum and the regional skills training needs.
The design outcome was an impressive facility that provides a comprehensive range of learning spaces under one roof. These spaces currently accommodate the majority of the school’s technical and trade-based curricular, but can be adapted to respond to changes in future curriculum or skills training requirements.
The judging panel were impressed by the collaborative approach taken by the design team to the briefing, planning and design of this facility. It is evident that this process enriched the design and the quality of the formal and informal learning spaces provided. They agreed that this was a benchmark facility that honours the integrity of trade and technical education, while also elevating its profile and status amongst the community. It provides a new platform of educational provision. This facility challenges the status quo on of trade and technical education (i.e. who should attend and how they should learn). The learning environments created by the facility are stimulating and would create excitement amongst the users about the many teaching and learning possibilities within, which symbolically communicate the importance placed on design and collaboration being pathways to the development of practical skills. The palette of materials is contemporary and robust, responding to the landscape, whilst being sympathetic to the local indigenous heritage. These combine to create to an overall aesthetics that would be inviting to broad range of users (multi-cultural, multi-age and mixed gender).
Project Details
Architects
Gray Puksand
Award
Winner Category 2 New Construction/New Individual Facility
Address
37 Graf Road Somerville VIC 3912
Submitter
Mark Freeman
Cost
$4,900,000
Photographer
Christine Francis Photography
Project Overview
Somerville Secondary College required a truly collaborative approach to the briefing, planning and design of the new centre. The new centre was envisaged to build on and extend the school’s existing specialist curriculum offer, in addition to providing contemporary, agile, large format working spaces that would respond to regional skills training needs. An accessible and flexible facility was envisaged at the outset, with a strong emphasis on showcasing pathways for secondary students into a variety of vocational areas, in addition to encouraging higher levels of female student participation, into what have traditionally been more male oriented domains.
Through establishing a central open design and project studio at the heart of the new centre, with a series of colocated independent and small group based spaces, the trade and specialist areas were able to be supported with extended and complementary learning opportunities, whether they be creative, theory or practice based. In addition to the range of spaces, there was a strong desire by the school to optimise possibilities for cross-disciplinary interactions, both formal and informal, through provision of seamless physical access, intermediate shared breakout spaces and high levels of transparency.
As a response to the provision of technical and trade-based practical skills required in the local region, the centre has integrated school-based specialist curriculum such as Fabrics, Art & Design with large format workshop spaces for Electrotechnology, Building & Construction and Plumbing. These spaces are spacious, highly transparent and adaptable to enable changes in future curriculum or skills training requirements.
A robust palette of materials used throughout is in response to the natural context of the site and is sympathetic to local indigenous heritage. An exposed skillion frame of engineered timber beams and columns which support a high span roof in the two main workshops and learning spaces, combined with exposed services have allowed the building envelope and structure to become a learning tool for students
The school vision for a centre of excellence for design and technology, encompassing building technology, plumbing and electrotechnology, integrated with art and design, emphasising investigation, making and doing has been effectively realised.