An innovative design strategy adopted by multi-disciplinary design practice GroupGSA facilitated the delivery of the $54 million Galungara Public School upgrade a full three years ahead of schedule.

Located at Schofields in Sydney’s northwest, the new primary school is designed to support a 1012-student capacity in the rapidly growing suburb and near the burgeoning Alex Avenue community, in the Blacktown Local Government Area. Schofield and Alex Avenue are part of the NSW Government’s wider North West Priority Growth Area.

Stage two of the new school was completed in January 2023 with the project fast-tracked from its original 2026 opening date.

GroupGSA led the architecture and landscape architecture for the school, which was built as part of a design and construct contract by Richard Crookes Constructions for School Infrastructure NSW (SINSW).

Rapid delivery program

Stage one of Galungara Public School was designed and built in 2020 using the volumetric Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach – one of the first public schools in New South Wales to be completed using this method.

The fully finished building modules were manufactured by Modscape in a workshop in Victoria, transported to the site in New South Wales, and then assembled into fully functioning buildings.

“This increased the speed of project delivery, shortened the onsite construction time, reduced site waste, and enabled greater built quality control,” GroupGSA associate director Rajat Khanna said.

Stage two was designed and delivered under a rapid nine-month program for a day one, term one, 2023 opening. The building program allowed the existing school to function without hindrance or impact to the cohort learning experience.

GroupGSA employed a ‘kit of parts’ strategy to deliver the project on time and in-budget during the pandemic.

Khanna explained that the design was rapidly developed to enable earlier start times on site and progressed through fast paced delivery of the main works.

“This resulted in stage two tying in seamlessly with stage one to deliver future focused learning spaces for the benefit of the growing student population in the community,” he said.

Contemporary learning with strong outdoor emphasis

The new school features 39 flexible learning spaces, including a library, a multipurpose hall with shared community use, homebases, withdrawal rooms, learning commons rooms, Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (COLAs), sports facilities, vegetable gardens, and outdoor reﬂective spaces.

Key highlights:

Learning spaces are designed to support contemporary pedagogy, teacher and student collaboration, self-direction, and team teaching with a range of sizes, furniture settings, and functions to enhance the educational experience and improve engagement.
Classroom furniture is adaptable and flexible, and considers the needs of students of different abilities and age groups.
Operable walls and large sliding doors promote connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, while covered open spaces provide opportunities for student interaction.

The outdoor zones range from quiet play spaces to large, active kick-around areas, with opportunities provided for creative play, according to lead landscape architect Felicity Ratcliffe.

“The outdoor environment plays a significant role in the life of the school. It provides the organisational framework for wayfinding and circulation, highlighting entries, connections and making distinguishable use zones."

“Most importantly, good connections to the outdoors allow students to develop a positive relationship with nature and begin to understand their role as environmental stewards, reinforcing a sense of responsibility towards the local, natural environment. It also plays an important part as an educational tool,” Ratcliffe says.

Photography credits: Ben Guthrie and Arthur Vay

Branko Miletic

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