LEA members Hayball win James D MacConnell Award with South Melbourne Primary School

Congratulations to LEA members Hayball! For the second year running, they have won the most prestigious internatonal award for excellence in educational facility planning: The James D. MacConnell Award.

Hayball's design for South Melbourne Primary School beat strong competition to take out the the Association for Learning Environments' highest honour on Saturday November 4 (ADST) at the annual LearningScapes conference in Chicago.

The other finalists were both American projects: The Environmental Learning Center at Tacoma Public Schools by McGranahan Architects, and Pathways Innovation Center/Roosevelt High School at Natrona County School by Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc and Architect MOA Architecture – Architect of Record.

You can tour South Melbourne Primary School and hear from the award-winning team of architects and educators behind this world-leading facility at the Regional Day Out on November 16.

South Melbourne Primary School Photos: Dianna Snape

Hayball also won in 2017 with Caulfield Grammar Learning Project, marking the first time an Australasian project had been recognised at this level.

The James D. MacConnell Award is given to a project that exemplifies the organisation's belief that great schools begin with communication and planning. School facilities recognised in this award program might embody great architecture but their successful components and characteristics are founded in an interactive process that engages multiple stakeholders to create an educational environment that holds purpose and distinction within a community.

Congratulations to all involved at South Melbourne Primary School and Hayball.

Main Photo: Members of the Hayball design team celebrate their win  (source: Twitter - Hayball)