Yarra Valley Grammar Science + Mathematics Building
Supporting a new learning model which is student focused, collaborative and seamless with digital technology, the flexible and connected spaces create synergies between mathematics and science curricula. Exceptionally practical in use, the building’s success reflects the high level of collaboration between educators and designers.
Project Details
Architects
Hayball
Award
Commendation Category 2 New Construction / New Individual Facility
Address
Kalinda Road Ringwood, VIC 3134 Australia
Submitter
Hayball
Cost
$9.6M
Photographer
Dianna Snape
Project Overview
After fire destroyed the school’s science facilities, Hayball was commissioned to design a new facility to bring together learning and teaching spaces for Science (on ground level) and Mathematics (on level one). Spaces are designed for a contemporary, student-centric model for learning, creating a place for inquiry, experimentation, interdisciplinary learning, group gathering and display.
Despite an urgency to rebuild, the school and design team invested in a thorough briefing and planning process.
A key challenge was to define a new educational approach for Science – one which was student focused, collaborative and integrated seamlessly with digital technology. Dr Ben Cleveland from the University of Melbourne facilitated workshops to help the users to articulate and shape new activities and settings. The school also set up the ‘Collaboratory’, a prototype space to explore new teaching and learning practice and test the use of ICT in the new building.
In the words of Dr Mark Merry, Principal, the outcomes from this intensive process continually shaped the design of the “truly world class and wonderfully unique facility” through all phases of the project.
The heart of the building is a dramatic double height open learning hub, which connects both levels via a tiered presentation space to encourage cross-curricular learning between Science and Mathematics. It also provides a convivial social setting for students and staff to interact.
The learning spaces have varying levels of enclosure and scale, with strong connectivity catering for different sized learning groups to support the flow of learning from one mode to another, and from inside to the outdoors. Science laboratories are multipurpose and link to breakout areas for study, practical write up and discussion. Furniture (built in and loose), digital interactive screens, writeable and pin-able surfaces provide for multiple foci in learning areas. An indoor/outdoor hobby space, horticultural garden and outdoor laboratory allow for science to be explored beyond the laboratory. The lecture theatre and tiered amphitheatre provide for large group instruction and presentation.
Juror’s Comments
Yarra Valley Grammar’s Science and Mathematics Building for secondary school students is a striking two-storey building that combines self-contained laboratory and classroom spaces for inquiry and experimentation with large collaborative spaces for informal learning, group gathering and display. Within the planning process and architectural program for this building are several aspects that must be commended. The first of these is the thoroughness of the planning process that included the development of a prototype space where staff learned to use the digital technology, which has been successfully integrated throughout the Science and Mathematics Building. This onboarding process helped teachers, including some who were initially skeptical about the school’s move towards collaborative learning, to develop confidence in using the new spaces and the collaborative opportunities offered by digital technologies.
Although many of the learning spaces are similar in scale and dimension to more conventional classroom environments they open onto communal areas and collaborative spaces that provide opportunities for students to work with peers or pursue independent study. The use of mobile furniture in the laboratory settings, which in some instances can be rolled out into the gallery spaces, creates possibilities for expanding learning settings and supporting various modes of simultaneous activity. Polished concrete floors, ply cabinetry and glazing have been used to create a light-filled and harmonious building punctuated at times by expanses of solid colour. The use of glass display cases as window walls for the science laboratories on the lower level is particularly effective in creating a transparent environment and a sense of visual connectedness. The displays in the cases are engaging and beautifully presented, but the most striking aspect of these window walls is the opportunity for students to observe their peers and watch the lab technicians working in the prep areas.
The environmentally sustainable design features of this building, including its ventilation and cooling system and water catchment and reuse program, are outstanding. Architectural elements such as the downpipes along the front of the building that are designed to look like structural supports are very effective. Hopefully these aspects of the building’s function are accessible to students as the opportunities they represent for scientific experiment and statistical analysis are tremendous.