An award winning education facility designer says changes in education practice call for a new design approach at schools.

The Federal Government’s funding through the Building Education Revolution means schools have the resources to create spaces designed specifically to meet the new approach to education.

Victorian-based architects Baldasso Cortese won the Council of Education Facility Planners International (CEFPI) Awards for Best New School In Australasia in 2010 (for St Francis de Sales in Lynbrook).

The firm worked on projects at 16 schools as part of the BER, with many of the new facilities designed by the team looking nothing like traditional school buildings.

According to the firm, the3 modern school provides a series of flexible spaces by reconfiguring ‘classrooms’ into learning areas, widening ‘corridors’ to become useful breakout spaces, including more resources in the learning areas and opening up internal spaces to the outside.

According to Hal Cutting, partner at Baldasso Cortese, successful designs must incorporate opposing elements: small and large spaces, open and enclosed areas, quiet and noisy areas, indoor and outdoor.

"As well, the design must introduce an abundance of natural light and fresh air, be resource- and technology- rich, acoustically controlled and provide a variety of furniture types," Cutting says.

Research has shown that different learning environments suit children at different stages of their development. Consequently, educational facilities with a mix of learning environments designed specifically to meet these differing learning needs achieve much better long-term outcomes in learners.

"To design a modern learning facility, architects must form a partnership with the educators responsible for that particular facility," he says.

"Each school will be different because it has a unique student profile and is run by different educators."

A commitment to environmental sustainability at St Kevin’s Primary in Hampton Park, for example, led to the installation of solar panels on the roof and an internal monitor to allow children to actively participate in the school’s energy use.

Our Lady of the Southern Cross Primary School in Wyndham Vale, in Melbourne’s west is another which takes into account many of the latest trends in education. The process of designing the brand new school began with the preparation of an architectural Master Plan, prepared by Baldasso Cortese.

The plan was designed to accommodate 450 students in three Learning Communities, with 150 students in each, providing for large and small group instruction, small group study areas and discussion spaces, a projection and drama area, multi media facilities, a large wet area/Art area, science and technology area as well as quiet spaces.

According to founding principal, Jennifer Poon, the final design complements all aspects of innovative curriculum practice — indoor/outdoor learning, fluid movement throughout an acoustically designed building, movement of air and plenty of natural light within the learning spaces.

One of the most fundamental changes that has occurred over the past five years, according to Hal Cutting, is the shift towards students taking greater responsibility for their learning and for teachers to collaborate on the pedagogical approach for this to occur.

Gone is the concept of teachers standing in front of rows of children. A modern classroom is likely to have groups of children working together on a range of activities. The room will be light-filled, open and airy. Smart boards, wireless computers and audio visual aids will be in use.

This change in a teacher’s role from instructor to facilitator necessitates different requirements for teachers’ needs as well, so many designs incorporate work spaces in which teaches can collaborate to plan their lessons.

Parents, also, are far more involved in their children’s education than in the past and many of the new designs incorporate informal meeting areas for parents, encouraging them to feel at home in the school.

At St Joseph’s Primary School in Boronia, for example, the school was transformed from a typical early 1960’s school building into a light-filled, contemporary learning centre, comprising a kitchen and dining room, theatre, library/ICT discovery centre, parent lounge, teacher planning rooms, music room, conference room, archival and multi media/furniture storage areas, as well as toilet facilities.

It is nothing like a traditional school building and is typical of the spaces Baldasso Cortese is designing to better educate our children.

This versatility is the key to a successful design, says Hal Cutting.

A modern school provides a series of flexible spaces by reconfiguring ‘classrooms’ into learning areas, widening ‘corridors’ to become useful breakout spaces, including more resources in the learning areas and opening up internal spaces to the outside.

Many of the schools designed by Baldasso Cortese feature retractable walls, allowing spaces to be used in different ways. The use of easily moveable, modular furniture provides further flexibility, because it can be used for traditional seating, as a working area for activities or in a back rest style for children sitting on the floor.

Architecture & Design Team

Time-for-a-new-approach-to-school-design-1736092678.png

Let’s connect!