Post-pandemic, the impacts and disruption on the performing arts and its role in the education system are still being understood. In the face of considerable uncertainty, artists, creative workers, and arts and cultural organisations have continued to innovate and regenerate, building digital capabilities and finding new ways to engage with local and global audiences.

It comes as no surprise that school performing arts programs are having to become increasingly more sophisticated in the opportunities and experiences they afford students, teachers and the broader community to keep up.

The disciplines of music, dance and drama are deeply connected, but increasingly entwined with other curriculum areas such as science, physical education, media and technology. Consequently, cross-disciplinary learning, community use of school buildings and school branding and identity are emerging as key themes in the planning and design of new and existing facilities.

At Hayball, we place a strong focus on culture, community and learning across all projects, but this focus has become increasingly important in the education sector. Across several recent projects we’ve noticed that as the way in which the arts engage and reach audiences continues to evolve, so too must our approach as designers.

Cross-disciplinary learning

The performing arts are inherently cross-disciplinary, combining music, dance and drama in the visual, oral and aural to create new, multi-disciplinary creative collaborations. Often, these collaborations venture further into the technical domains of lighting, sound, visual effects and digital media – particularly as new technologies and trends emerge in this space. Educators then are always thinking about ways to provide students with authentic, real-world skills and experiences that nurture their interests and curiosity as part of their learning journey across domains.

An example of this is the new 450-seat theatre at St. Peter’s College in Clyde North, just one part of a multi-stage facility that links performing arts, food technology, hospitality and sports and fitness. We’ve designed the theatre to provide a mix of school-based and community-based programs. Synergies between food, catering and performance events are harnessed to create meaningful vocational training opportunities. Back-of-house and technical spaces are carefully designed for supervised student use to gain authentic experience in all aspects of a theatre production.

The Performing Arts and Media Centre (PAMC) at Yarra Valley Grammar is another good example of how to include these cross-disciplinary opportunities in the built form. Our aim was to enhance their curriculum in music, dance and drama while capitalising on the interface between these disciplines and new media technologies, broadening the facility’s relevance to students beyond those focused on performing arts.

Our design augments the existing George Wood Performing Arts facility, a highly regarded 895-seat auditorium that has been operating for over 30 years, to allow teachers and students to explore these interactions and synergies through media learning. A dedicated production studio (sound stage) will provide industry-standard audiovisual recording and editing opportunities, as well as virtual production capabilities using large LED arrays that can provide a dynamic backdrop for film and drama productions.

Community Hubs

The role of schools as a community hub has never been more relevant. Multi-purpose performing arts hubs can help achieve this through partnerships with external community groups and local government or commercial hire arrangements for community use outside of school hours, and design that lends itself to more than solely use by students within school hours.

The Yarra Valley Grammar project will help shape the social interactions of students, families and the broader community. Alongside new educational facilities, it will enhance the patron experience with an expanded front-of-house space that can host events and functions and includes upgraded patron amenities and accessibility. Sitting at the heart of the Ringwood campus, the redeveloped PAMC acts as a gateway for students and patrons alike as they pass through a new arrival undercroft.

The final stage of the multi-purpose complex at St Peter’s College is an indoor sports and recreation facility, initiated as a jointly funded partnership between the College and the local Council. It’s a development that will provide much-needed competition grade sporting facilities for the local district and help St Peter’s College attract significant community organisations, such as Calisthenics Victoria, to hire the entire complex across the sports and performing arts domains.

Both projects not only create new learning experiences for students, but open previously closed doors to their communities; essential as we strive for a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient society and seek to form lasting, meaningful relationships within our communities.

Related: Dr Fiona Young on education design

Branding Identity

In opening their campus and facilities to community use, the branding and identity of schools – physically and online – is becoming increasingly important. The public face of these multi-purpose hubs is an opportunity to provide a legible and welcoming destination for visitors, showcase facilities and programs, and communicate the values, culture or history of the school itself.

For our work at Ruyton Girls’ School – in Association with Sally Draper Architects (SDA), who led the brief, building planning and envelope design – the replacement of the original Royce Hall Theatre with a new performing arts development and auditorium was an opportunity to capture the legacy of the performing arts at Ruyton – and showcase its future. It includes the upgrade of adjacent heritage structures in Derham House and the Foundation building, integrating a new Library Resource Centre and music practice and pre-show event spaces within the auditorium.

Our focus has been in leading the design of the main auditorium and in the design and delivery of interiors throughout. The key devices for the auditorium were derived from what SDA developed for the exterior – an evocative screen that suggests the leaves of a beloved tree on the Ruyton campus. Acoustically, variable screens subtly reference the building exterior too, creating a sense of an integrated whole.

At St Peter’s College, we adopted a different approach, conceiving the theatre form as a jewel to be discovered, analogous to a hollow rock lined with beautiful crystals, a geode. A double-height foyer space will also serve the future sports and recreation centre with prominent entries at either end providing public and school access to these shared community use facilities.

The College’s branding and colour palette is used throughout the design, so that even when the facilities are used outside of school hours, it is clear to users and guests that it remains a part of the school, further strengthening both the College’s identity and reputation within its community.

Our schools are transforming. As architects, we have a role to play in both supporting and catalysing this process through partnerships with stakeholders and good design of these state-of-the-art facilities. We can create opportunities for real-world, cross-disciplinary learning; blur the boundary between public and private spaces and throw doors wide for school communities – all the while ensuring they retain their unique identity through a building’s design language.

The future of our schools is one of vibrant hubs fostering social interactions, enriching the educational experience and fulfilling their broader role in the community.

Owen West, David Tweedle and Emma Parkinson are Senior Associate, Principal and Associate respectively at Hayball.

Hayball
hayball.com.au

Scientia Terrace in North Sydney by Hayball