Horsham Special School – Sensory Garden
Project Details
Architects
KNEELER DESIGN ARCHITECTS PTY. LTD with JEAVONS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS PTY.LTD
Award
Winner: Category 6 Landscape/Outdoor Learning Area
Address
17 High Street North, Horsham 3402 Victoria
Submitter
Robert Bienvenu
Cost
$ 283, 553
Photographer
Silvi Glattauer
Project Overview
The Sensory Courtyard at the Horsham Special School was designed by Jeavons Landscape Architects, who collaborated with Kneeler Design Architects (responsible for the design of the new school). The school landscape and outdoor play areas were designed after close engagement and consultation with the special school staff. We wanted to create landscape experiences that stimulate, educate & evoke the senses.
Our design solutions engage children with a range of physical and intellectual abilities, individual special needs, varying social skills and levels of sensory integration, including children on the autism spectrum.
As a central and focal space in the school, the sensory courtyard has many functions:
? a strong visual element and orientation point for the school
? a quiet seating/respite area
? an outdoor teaching and learning area
? a space for lunch time seating
? a seating and meeting place for staff and parents
? indoor/outdoor social gatherings and functions
? a circulation route for students and staff moving between indoor spaces.
Above all of these, however, the space was designed to provide a highly sensory space to meet the specific needs of the children who have a variety of disabilities, and in particular for children on the autism spectrum.
For the design of Horsham Special School courtyard, which was a component of a larger landscaping master plan for
the school, we had to consider the nature of the fully enclosed courtyard as well as the various spaces inside the
building that led out onto the courtyard.
The space is organised so that different activities can occur in different parts of the courtyard. It is designed to provide a calming effect which has been shown to have a marked effect on the behaviour of children. It provides a range of sensory experiences with tactile and sculptural elements, a variety of textures, surfaces and materials, water, a wide range of sensory planting, high levels of detail, and some special features such as the pressure poles that allow children to squeeze between them and get a whole-body calming effect. The design of the courtyard includes also includes a pebble maze, a pebble stream, and outdoor tables sheltered by eaves.
We worked with therapists and other staff to create artistic and beautiful spaces with texture, colours, scent and sounds, but also spatial variety, thermal properties and movement. We aim to engage children in a playful way that builds on their strengths and provides staff with a setting that aids communication, learning and the development of social skills.
As a primarily circular walled garden, the focus was then on the space in the centre. We were also mindful that supervision across the courtyard was maintained for safety reasons. Circulation was designed along desire lines and anticipated pathways that were based upon the natural tendency to use the shortest route, to cut across the courtyard to get to the other side. We put in a generous 3-way paved path to meet these circulation needs, and added a touch of visual whimsy and playfulness, in the form of a curly snake
painted onto the pavement.
