Doveton College

The learning spaces provide a variety of settings, to support the school’s enquiry based curriculum focused on personal engagement. Early years buildings also consist of spaces which allow parents to contribute and engage with their child’s education. The specialist spaces have an adaptability that enables the school to support and extend its students in a range of self directed projects.

In addition to the dedicated community hub, shared community facilities include the sports, wellbeing and resource centres, which are grouped around a dynamic agora space which provides a whole of community assembly space.

There is an outstanding collection of flexible, interconnected learning spaces that support a broad range of activities. The buildings combine to create a rich “urban village” atmosphere, with building scales and arrangements relating to the particular age group. Despite the constraints of the site, the complex is able to let the community in, all while maintaining the operation of the school without any compromise.

The Environmentally friendly buildings are designed around passive solar principles far exceeding BCA requirements. Each building has highly efficient hydronic heating with gas condensing boilers and a night purging system, all centrally controlled via a BMS. The school generates its own electricity via a 10kW array. Rainwater is collected and reused, and energy and water is data logged with figures available as a learning resource.

The local community has been particularly impressed with the sensitivity given to capturing views, the connection with the streetscape, the courtyard and agora and the way major existing trees have been used as focal points in the design. The buildings and landscape are engaging and colourful, and contribute immensely to the student’s engagement. The school is delighted with the way that the children and community have warmed to the new buildings which have given a feeling of renewed confidence to this vulnerable community.