Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide go vertical with new schools

Rapid change in IT and our urban populations is fuelling a rethink in how we design in learning spaces.

Architect’s impression of Ultimo Public School, which opens in 2021 in Sydney. Picture: DesignInc, Lacoste and Stevenson and BCM2

Designing a learning space for future education needs and to cater for careers a decade down the track is a complicated process. There will be jobs no one has dreamed of yet, and we have no idea how technology will change.

However, several new schools nationally are jumping ahead of the curve.

Sustainable architectural firm DesignInc is collaborating with tech giant Cisco and the Association for Learning Environments to create vertical high schools to cope with changing IT needs, inner-city growth and urban demographic changes.

DesignInc director Wayne Dixon has been working on the new Adelaide Botanic High School in collaboration with Cox Architecture, which will open in 2019. His company has worked on the vertical Ultimo Public School in Sydney, to open in 2021. The South Melbourne Primary School project, undertaken by architecture firm Hayball, is opening next January.

Dixon says state governments are turning to CBD vertical school designs — built over multiple levels because of a lack of green or vacant space — to cope with population needs.

“All these families are moving into South Melbourne, there’s a demographic reason for it,” Dixon says. “There’s been a need for a public school for a long time. As cities gentrify and increase in density, they’re not just for retirees and young people — it’s families moving into cities. South Melbourne is going through massive growth.”

Dixon says there were few high-rise apartments in Adelaide a decade ago, but there has been a boom in international students, more families have moved into the city centre and Adelaide High School is at capacity. The new secondary school on University of South Australia land means educators can design a future vertical campus with a clean slate.

Each of the schools will have up to six levels, with integrated learning spaces, common areas, natural light, convertible spaces, libraries doubling as research hubs, and terraces.

“One of the principles of this is learning on display,” says Dixon. “The traditional schools of the 60s had a lot of glazing, they weren’t light, corridors were blocked with lockers. These ones have the opportunity (to) see what’s going on. There are learning pods, maker spaces, atriums spaces.”

Dixon says common learning areas have been designed alongside chemistry labs, and libraries will be research and learning ­spaces with fewer reference books. Importantly, Wi-Fi abounds.

“Being able to access information anywhere is key,” he says. “Tech changes so quickly. If you fix too much, in six years they become redundant. In six years we may be talking about hologram displays.”

Association of Learning Environments Australasia chairwoman Deb O’Reilly says in the past five years schools have become increasingly aware they need to future proof.

“With contemporary teaching, literacy, numeracy and knowledge are still critical, but contemporary learning has that and goes beyond, and asks how do they learn,” O’Reilly says. “The spaces we’re designing are not big open barns but they can be if needed.”

She says learning needs to adapt to different education needs, changing from traditional classrooms with children in rows to anything from group projects and individual work. She says with the spotlight on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, students will be testing ideas, making and creating.

O’Reilly says future education is about practical and adaptive open spaces and creative learning.

“Sometimes it’s just a change in furniture,” she says. “If your school doesn’t have money, sometimes it’s how you use furniture and space and making sure things aren’t stuck on windows so they block natural light. Quality teachers can design a space in a tin shed if they need to.”

She says modern learning environments do not always have enough chairs for students and may have stand-up desks or ­spaces where students can use mobile devices while on their feet. Teachers are doing away with corner desks to create space.

She says adapting learning environments is not just about the space, it is about the pedagogy, working in teams to encourage debate and developing soft skills to ensure students are adaptable.

Cisco vice-president Ken Boal, who sits on the Commonwealth Science Council and is the president of the Business and Higher Education round table, says upgrading technology in schools, TAFEs and universities needs teacher support, including additional skills training.

“We have to help the teachers with their teaching approach for remote learning (as well) because it’s not the same any more,” Boal says.

“If you’ve been doing something for 20 years, you’re going to have to change your teaching … I really sympathise with the education system; teachers have enough to deal with, with curriculum. We need more personal development days because there’s more training to do.”

Boal says there has been a federal government push to improve access to technology, including students having access to laptops and broadband, and the progressive updating of Wi-Fi.

It is more than just hardware improvements, he says, with schools, TAFEs and universities also becoming more adept at analysing usage data. Institutions now can monitor which spaces are being used more than others to allow for better room design, understand which devices are being used and whether students are present.

“A lot of teaching students are using analytics to see whether students are not engaging, what do we know about them, are they turning up?” he says.

“These data sets are being used and put in the hands of teachers or lecturers (who say) we’ve got a problem with a student, we can fix it. That was a dream five to 10 years ago and now it’s happening.”

He says future schools will be adaptive to changing technology, and an increased need to upskill students in STEM subjects. After all, Boal says, every future career will be touched by technological advancements.

“No job is going to escape it … it’s important that we arm kids with skills for them to be able to cope.”