DESIGN FOR LEARNING In Adelaide a flexible learning space for high school students sets a new standard in both design and style.
Not so long ago, the boundaries between people’s learning and working lives were very clear. High school students would complete their studies, typically transition into university and then enter the workforce. These days, with the rise of the millennial-age worker, they have become less distinct. This blurring of borders has seen the phenomenon of lifelong learning take effect as the younger generation of workers question the need for traditional university degrees, looping in and out of the workforce to complete them. As a result, co-working spaces that accommodate both learning and working are on the increase, incubators positioning industry experts within educational contexts are becoming more common and current pedagogies are being steered towards enabling students to get business focus.
These fluid frameworks have enabled architects and designers to deliver outcomes that are as innovative as they are unrestrictive – especially in the secondary education sector, where workplace values such as entrepreneurship, collaboration and inquisitiveness are being prioritised. The new Pembroke Middle School redevelopment in Adelaide’s leafy eastern suburb of Kensington exemplifies this.
Designed by Grieve Gillett Andersen (GGA), the three-storey facility features a variety of settings, comprising flexible learning spaces for art, science and technology, as well as maker spaces, industry-occupied enterprise spaces and an artist-in-residence studio. “The project’s design is based on the concept that learning isn’t constrained by curriculum, so students can see via different settings how it’s applied beyond campus, while at the same time developing relationships with ‘real world’ practitioners and industry,” explains GGA Principal Dimitty Andersen. “It was also important to empower students on their high school journey and this easy access to a number of spatial experiences encourages diverse styles and modes of self-directed learning.”
The building is an undeniable hub of activity, articulated as a kind of vertical learning village, with a well-lit, naturally ventilated central atrium as its ‘town square’. Around this void are positioned various neighbourhoods that accommodate the different learning environments. These spaces in turn consist of break-out zones for informal gathering and links to outdoor landscaped and learning areas, including a ‘bio-deck’, which serves as an unconventional opening to the science laboratories.
A sense of openness extends throughout the rest of the building’s interiors, with extensive glazing utilised to facilitate visual connections and transparency across all three levels. While the learning, enterprise and maker spaces are very much defined by a straightforward horizontality, the scheme’s overall expression takes its lead from the triangulated site. So, dramatic angles and strong lines define the circulation areas and break-out zones, which are used by students and staff, as well as members of the community when the school hosts events, exhibitions and other functions.
As Andersen explains, “All the design decisions were made through a ‘building as teacher’ lens. The project’s form, along with the landscape design, detailing and services contribute to a story about construction and innovation that can be used to inspire the next generation of designers, builders and innovators.” Students