Woodleigh Regenerative Futures Studio is this year’s Sustainability Awards winner in the Education & Research category, sponsored by WoodSolutions.

More than just a school building, the Regenerative Futures Studio, is a carbon-sequestering, solar-powered living ecosystem that filters pollution, fosters animal life and generates almost zero waste.

It provides a dynamic project-based learning environment for students to explore and address real-world problems with a regenerative focus.

The largest pavilion houses a collection of five learning spaces and two quiet learning pods, offering a range of flexible learning settings for personalisation and student agency.

The learning spaces, fitted with acoustic ceiling panels made from reclaimed fabric, feature large sliding doors, allowing collaborative project-based work to occur alongside subject-based learning.

Additionally, large sliding hemp whiteboards provide further learning and display opportunities while reframing the interior spaces as a linear gallery for the exhibition of student work.

A second pavilion houses staff areas and amenities, while the third serves as the ‘homestead’, a communal kitchen/social space shared between students and staff, building a sense of belonging and community.

The building’s innovative construction system combines a prefabricated steel truss post and beam frame with straw wall and ceiling panels, recycled cork facade spray, and a living green roof, complete with a drought-resilient wicking bed.

The system is unitised as prefabricated components, which, when combined with local procurement, has produced a near-zero-waste construction system.

The Durra Panel straw panels are embedded with biochar to filter pollutants from the air. The green roof provides a protected habitat to foster the lifecycles of native butterflies, birds and bees, while its thermal mass and soil weight significantly reduce the need for mass concrete footings.

The building is run entirely on solar power with an Australian-made battery storage system that is completely recyclable - as are all the materials used across the project. In addition, VOC-free, low-embodied carbon and carbon sequestering are at the forefront of all design and material choices.

The project group has open-sourced the designs under a Creative Commons license to allow other schools to use the technology and innovations. This provides public benefit from a private project, showing students and the wider community what a regenerative future might look like, and inspiring them to take action.

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