The redevelopment project entailed the modernisation of an existing secondary co-ed state school via the implementation of a robust and forward-thinking Masterplan. The basic requirement was to allow the easy expansion of the school community from its current size of approximately 900 pupils to a required 1080 students enrolled for the 2019 school year.

Due to budget and space restrictions, our design focused on elements of the existing buildings that could be re-used or repurposed within the new masterplan, enabling a greater budget for important new elements within the buildings and the utilization of existing structural elements that were still in good condition.

Our design retained the existing roof and columns, while the existing building beneath was completely removed and restructured to suit contemporary teaching and learning requirements. The internal design incorporated rooms for more traditional models of teaching and incorporated the ability to expand for future evolutions in pedagogy. We were also able to introduce a range of meeting and gathering spaces both internal and external where students can congregate for formal and informal learning.

Designing the masterplan element of the project allowed us to carry out the upgrade holistically, incorporating solutions that benefited the whole school community that enables better connections and flow of movement, identifying and defining high use pathways, increasing general accessibility, incorporating practical wayfinding, and resolving a number of issues that were not directly specified in the brief, but were identified as intrinsic to the school’s desire to function as a model of contemporary education.

The modernisation project was staged to ensure minimal disruption to students and faculty throughout the duration of building works.