Architectural practice, Hayball, has completed several outstanding secondary education projects such as Braemar College’s Middle School building, Newhaven College’s senior school campus and Caulfield Grammar’s Roy Hoult Centre.
While the three institutions could not be in more diverse locations – spanning the coast, countryside and inner city – all three projects illustrate Hayball’s approach towards creating contemporary learning spaces, offering a mix of flexible and collaborative environments, and showcase specialised science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, or applied mathematics (STEAM) facilities which are designed to assist students with the tools they need to thrive in the modern workforce.
1.Braemar College, Woodend
Braemar College’s progressive new Woodend development offers facilities for its year 5 – 8 cohort. While other schools believe this group belongs in a primary school setting, Braemar’s middle school model crosses over this juncture with the belief that it better reflects the true stages of learning amongst modern students.
“Students from the age of 10 are becoming increasingly inquisitive about the world around them. The facilities we have designed, specifically respond to this thirst for knowledge through a building that promotes opportunities in more specialised learning and reflects purposefully Braemar’s vision for the core teaching and learning activities,” said David Tweedie, Director at Hayball.
“Before students enter VCE and begin to define and direct their own curriculum, teachers work with students to explore five thematically connected subject areas and discover talents in English and the Humanities, Science and Maths, performing and fine arts, sports and languages,” Mr Tweedie explained.
According to Hayball, the site’s rural setting was also a key factor of influence in their architectural response.
“The Mt Macedon campus is a historic, heritage-listed campus and will retain a key role for senior learning and as the historic heart of the school. The new Woodend campus is beautifully situated on the farmland below Mt Macedon, with sweeping views of Hanging Rock and back to the Macedon Ranges. As such, we wanted to reference and celebrate these views as much as possible in the building’s layout,” he said.
Rather than designing a deep plan single building for the large cohort of students, Hayball set out to develop a series of repetitive ‘rural’ forms which were designed to sit respectfully within the undulating farmland and to set a model for any future buildings on the site.
2. Caulfield Grammar School, Roy Hoult Centre
Following a surge of enrolments across the middle school cohort, Caulfield Grammar School sought to extend their existing Roy Hoult Centre’s lifespan, to fit with campus development plans and advancements in teaching and learning.
The building was constructed using a prefabricated methodology and is an extension to an existing large general teaching building. The building also rationalises disability access and provides meaningful and connected outdoor learning spaces.
“We really see the use of this building supporting Caulfield’s extension of the students core learning activities in science, but also in the area of robotics, construction, mechatronics. Allowing students the spatial resources for group work, and for key activities such as video and sound recording extends all subjects and electives, and provides a greater choice of learning space,” commented Mr Tweedie.
The building’s construction was also a key differentiator.
“We decided to use a prefabrication methodology on this project in order to take advantage of its many benefits, including the significant decrease in construction time on site and the ability to cut down disruption to students and the greater campus during the building phase,” said Mr Tweedie. “The great thing about modern prefab building techniques is that you don’t have to compromise on quality, quite the opposite in fact.”
Caulfield Grammar image, courtesy of Hayball.
3. Newhaven College, Phillip Island
Originally located in the Newhaven region of Phillip Island, Newhaven College has been slowly transitioning into a larger new campus in the middle of the island. The new Senior Learning Centre is designed to accommodate students approaching graduation in years 10-12 at the new campus.
Aside from the Senior Learning Centre, the new amenities provide more nuanced, purposeful learning spaces to support a broad-based pedagogy across the school. There is a range of informal zones for smaller groups and collaborative study-based work, plus specialist spaces centred around science and arts. The materials workshop, for example, is now a place where students can participate in hands-on learning opportunities with electronics, robotics, coding, design, multimedia, printing and fabrication.
“We wanted to create a mature setting for students where they could work together on small projects – a skill that’s essential in any career. We took a lot of inspiration from modern co-working spaces – the look and feel and how they utilise space – to emulate workplaces of the future,” said Owen West, Senior Associate at Hayball.
“In terms of the architectural response, rather than creating two distinct buildings, we approached the design by creating one building across two sites with a similar architectural language, separated by an existing campus road,” he said.
When designing the spaces, Hayball had to consider the island’s infamous strong winds, amongst a range of other challenging site conditions. Their final design utilises every chance to mitigate the effect of the elements, such as the buildings being shaped to create protective outdoor spaces, and walkways featuring added weather protection.
