Durable and adaptable seating creates dynamic teaching and learning environments at the new Centre for Creative Industries at St Andrew’s Lutheran College.

Set in the Gold Coast suburb of Tallebudgera, the Centre for Creative Industries at St Andrew’s Lutheran College houses a variety of subject areas dedicated to design, innovation and manufacturing across a wide range of industries.

With the College’s old Manual Techs premises no longer meeting the needs of the curriculum, the new Centre grew out of the need to build something bigger and better to support multiple specialty subject areas including film and TV, digital technology, fashion design, business, robotics, manual arts and engineering, with a main arena for larger gatherings.

The design brief called for a space that offered flexibility, while providing the functionality to support highly-specified subjects within certain areas.

To create an adaptive education environment, flexible furniture solutions for teaching and learning spaces were required. In the design phase, ARKI Environments worked closely with architects Burling Brown, laying 3D models of the furniture into their conceptual designs. They supplied prototype furniture six months prior to obtain the students’ feedback on ergonomics and practicality, which informed St Andrew’s final purchase.

The building showcases a range of Buro Seating furniture, including Konfurb Harmony chairs, Konfurb Fly chairs and barstools and Buro Revo stools. Offering durability and adaptability, these innovative seating products are designed to meet the changing needs of students and staff in the innovative educational environment.

“Classrooms have evolved even more quickly in the last three years. There are now a number of focal points in a classroom. We still have the traditional whiteboard but now also have remote learners joining via a display screen in another part of the room, projection screens and also screens for group work,” explains Matt Jeffers, education seating expert at Buro Seating. “We must allow for as much variation as possible and allow learners to adjust their seating for optimal view of presentation or display screens.”

With these evolutions, the chairs specified for the Centre’s teaching and learning spaces needed to encourage movement and provide adjustability in heights, with swivel mechanisms and castors for mobility. Konfurb Harmony Chairs and Konfurb Harmony Drafting Chairs deliver the required flexibility, creating areas with provided computers as well as spaces where students bring their own laptops and access power.

The Konfurb Harmony is an active seating office chair that is designed to improve posture by encouraging natural movement and flexibility. As students are always changing chairs, the active seating technology means they do not need to fuss over dual levers to adjust the chair, instead they can achieve optimal posture effortlessly.

The Konfurb Harmony Drafting Chair is perfect for collaborative breakout spaces, with a contoured, moulded shell for superior comfort. A good option for a bar height table, this drafting chair provides ergonomic support and multi-directional movement to support learning.

The new space also features the Konfurb Fly Sled Barstool and Buro Revo stools to provide even more ergonomic seating options for teachers and students. Allowing for a variation of sitting heights within the learning environment, the Konfurb Fly Sled Barstool can support a variety of learning styles. Similarly, Buro Revo stools come in three different gas lift height ranges, including an architectural kit with flootring, creating options for sitting, perching or working at standing height.

Supported by Buro Seating’s wide range of innovative furniture solutions, this fitout demonstrates how flexible seating can engage, inspire and promote better learning outcomes in an ever-evolving environment.

Buro Seating

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Photography by SCK Media