St Columba’s High School, New Learning Block A

Growing directly out of the Masterplan ambitions and a detailed briefing process, St Columba’s Learning Block A is a new facility that supports contemporary learning practice in a flexible setting, reinforcing the CEO’s Learning for the 21st Century pedagogy. 

Project Details

Architects
pmdl Architecture + Design

Address
Hawkesbury Road Springwood, NSW 2777 Australia

Submitter
Peter Doddrell

Cost
$5.8m

Photographer
Peter Doddrell

Project Overview

Learning Block A at St Columba’s High School in Springwood is a new facility that grew directly out of the Masterplan ambitions, which involved the reworking of existing heritage structures and the building of new learning facilities incorporating a clarity of circulation, grouped around a new courtyard which reflected the heritage quad. The planning connects indoor and outside spaces, reinforcing the entire campus as a place for learning and collaboration. The location of buildings creates sheltered spaces whilst making strong connections between the east and west parts of the campus, celebrating the views and ensuring quality open space.

In response to the detailed briefing process, Learning Block A spans two levels and contains a variety of learning spaces which are interconnected, highly visible and open to shared common spaces. Clear, generous circulation provides for more than just corridors. The provision of a range of learning settings, and the identification of timetabled, non-timetabled and bookable spaces creates a range of options not previously available in a campus comprising mainly traditional facilities.

Connection to the existing heritage building, via a bridge, effectively extended the reach of the building and added to the range of learning settings available, whilst improving campus connections. Toilet and washroom facilities have been provided as individual cubicles located off main circulation and the provision for lockers has been incorporated within key nodal locations.

A significant impact on the process was the site constraints which included Environmental, Heritage and Bushfire issues that had to be addressed in a coordinated fashion, alongside the learning and organisational planning and design. This required extensive consultation with Blue Mountains City Council, RFS, and other authorities. The clarity of the learning ambitions, established early in the study, ensured that they were not lost in the navigation through these critical site constraints.