A new dual purpose facility for a girl’s school in Brisbane has set a leading example for future proofed, flexible education design.
March 23rd, 2015
Writing on the walls might not be permissible in most schools but it is if you’re a student at Loreto College for girls in Brisbane. The new Cruci Building by architects ThomsonAdsett features writable surfaces where students are encouraged to jot down their thoughts and express their creativity.
This is just one component of the innovative scheme that has been designed to create inspirational and flexible spaces for teaching, learning and performance.
The Cruci Building maximises the available campus area on a highly constrained rock face site and offers a variety of multipurpose spaces that overlap teaching, learning and performance functionalities. Writeable surfaces (thinking walls) and wireless technology are major design elements that enable student thinking to be displayed, which together with moveable furniture, allows for an easy change of layout.
A sinuous bronze screen and different sized breakout areas influence the form of the building, with standard verandas and bag racks making way to flexible learning and social outdoor spaces. The screen and waved seating provides learning and social spaces to which the students are instinctively drawn together.
ThomsonAdsett Group Director of design and Education Communities Graham Legerton says the design of the screen defines the future vision of performing arts on the site.
“The screen references a front of house curtain with a delicacy, serenity and form that has been sculpted to frame and create variable sized learning settings, whilst realising a memorable sense of arrival,” he said.
Major components of the building that have been designed to serve future theatre function include a large multipurpose ground level space which will eventually act as a theatre foyer, and lift and kitchen which have been strategically planned to maximise agility and service operations and future intermissions respectively.
“Our team loved the creative and collaborative approach on this project,” Legerton said. “All parties shared the vision of creating something special and worked tirelessly to achieve it. The simplicity of the end result and joy that it is bringing to students, staff and the community is what architecture is all about.”
ThomsonAdsett
thomsonadsett.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
The Sub-Zero Wolf showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne provide a creative experience unlike any other. Now showcasing all-new product ranges, the showrooms present a unique perspective on the future of kitchens, homes and lifestyles.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Create a configuration to suit your needs with this curved collection.
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
Commercial and creative interests don’t always go hand-in-hand, and often a designer’s curiosity to truly change spaces and people is forgone for the more conservative or – more blatantly – cost-effective option.
Ettlin Lux® is a special decorative light technical fabric, that creates variable, three-dimensional light effects by interaction with a LED backlight. Spatial light structures with a surprising depth appear in a multitude of fascinating effects, shapes and colours.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
2024’s theme, “Reawaken,” calls for a journey through reinvention and sustainability.
Eccentricity and refinement blend at Giant Steps Wines’ new Tasting Room – a picture-perfect place for guests to wine down.