Baldivis Secondary College, Stage 1

An inventive school whose core is a 120m warehouse intersected by a number of primary buildings and bookended by the performing arts building and sports hall. At its heart is its café and library and the spaces formed ‘inbetween’ are the glue which binds all educational and social functions.

Project Details

Architects
JCY Architects and Urban Designers

Award
Commendation Category 1: New Construction Entire New School

Address
Stillwater Drive Baldivis, WA 6171

Submitter
Elisabetta Guj

Cost
$40,000,000

Photographer
Damien Hatton

Project Overview

For the Principal’s statement to commence with ‘It is both an honour and a privilege to have been appointed as Principal of Baldivis Secondary College’ is humbling and a reminder of why the Baldivis Secondary College project has been an extraordinary process.

The outcome for the Principal, staff, students and community reflects all the core aims of the project including the highest quality teaching and learning spaces, the establishment of strong links between the school and its community, exceptional informal and formal spaces both inside and outside, sustainable, cost effective and low maintenance buildings, a vibrant heart to the greater community, excellent access to IT and a place that supports and springboards the communities young people into a vibrant and hopeful future.

This first stage is comprised of 6 buildings including performing arts, administration/library/food, science/learning community, café, sports hall and materials technology which intersect the overarching 120m long warehouse space creating a new type of school environment which is, in its material and form, derived from the industrial and market gardening heritage of the region.

Highly identifiable industrial building elements form the aesthetics including forms reminiscent of shipping containers. Colours are chosen from the ‘safety’ palette and the long cafe allows pedestrian passage over its roof to connect upper levels. This is a school which can be travelled through, under, over and around and focuses on the dynamics of its students as the heart of its activity.

The material palette is durable and reflects the industrial setting. Facades are a dynamic composition of off-white patterned (chequerplate) precast concrete, aluminium chequerplate and coloured metaldeck sheeting articulated with expressed steelwork frames. Concrete cast-in relief patterns provide texture and shadowplay across the facades. Colorbond sheeting and chequerplate shimmer, reflect light and colour from all vantage points.

Completed under budget the buildings and site were designed to achieve very high standards, while ensuring robust construction allows longevity and minimized maintenance. While substantial site remediation was required, the landscape has been designed so that when mature it will be reminiscent of the original bushland of the area.

Juries Comment

“The jury was particularly struck by the manner in which this new model for secondary schools in Western Australia, set in a rapidly growing urban fringe setting, embraces its role as a hub for an emerging community. Its distinctive design successfully uses a language of industrial forms and references, echoing the site’s history and cleverly makes use of sheltered external spaces for learning and other community uses.

Congratulations to JCY Architects and Baldivis Secondary College.”