Pulteney Grammar School Centre for Senior Learning

The Centre for Senior Learning is stage one of a new Senior College within the existing Pulteney Grammar School campus. The Centre was created through the conversion of two existing “retail shops” on Gilles Street. Interconnecting all levels of the existing buildings with light shafts and circulation created ‘open plan’ learning studios and learning pods, tutorial / meeting spaces, conference / common areas, a careers centre, a student kitchen, an integrated staff work area and the sub school administration offices.

The design response was to retain as much of the buildings as possible, the shop front windows to see the good work that occurs within and the raw and rough nature of the existing structure to create an industrial aesthetic. There existing building fabric and structural columns were used as a method breaking down the traditional ‘front of the classroom’ to create more collaborative learning environments. New glazed walls offer colour and transparency, the option to open and close space, while also providing an interactive surface for presentation. It was a conscious balance between saving and exposing the existing building fabric and the judicious inserting of new elements to form the most flexible and inspiring educational space.

The School Principal Anne Dunstan in her opening address noted;

“At all stages of this building project, conversations about pedagogy have been the starting point, underpinning all our thinking….it is an adult space with flexible furniture options; shared breakout spaces; ubiquitous technology; smaller pods for reflective work or collaborative enquiry and sight lines and vistas connecting us to our city and to each other. It reflects trends in learning and working environments beyond our school. The intention is openness, flexibility, function and equity – students and educators working together to learn and teach.…..It has been most evident that all of the thought and rigorous design that was put into its development have reaped rewards as our students have engaged seamlessly with all elements of the facility”