Breathing New Life into Educational Architecture

Bethlehem College Ashfield

Architect: Neeson Murcutt + Neille 

Photography by Brett Boardman

In a carefully choreographed set of interventions and deletions, a tired, crowded and disjointed collection of heritage and aged buildings are transformed here into a connected series of learning environments that suits the needs of future focused learning and creates a new focus for the school around a central courtyard. A connective spine through the heart of the school reestablishes the visual link to the church, provides efficient orientation and circulation to learning areas, and enables the life of the school to percolate through its arched feet, breathing new life into the campus.

Meriden School – Lingwood Campus

Architect: Allen Jack+Cottier 

Photography by AJC Photography

The Meriden School Lingwood Campus is home to a heritage listed Federation house set to the rear of a large block. Rather than dominate the site with new development, Allen Jack + Cottier have sensitively wrapped their new passive house designed classrooms around the rear boundary, retaining the house as the key site address. In doing so, the remainder of the site is given over to landscape and play.

All interventions in the site are sensitive to the Federation house form, while scaled for their occupants, preschoolers and kindergarteners.