Located on a triangular, tightly constrained and steeply sloping site in an established inner suburban residential neighbourhood, the North Melbourne Hill Primary School was designed as a vertical haven of learning.
Located within the rapidly expanding Urban Growth Boundary of outer Western Melbourne, this project involved the expediated design and delivery of six new primary school campuses across vast greenfield sites. Schools play a vital role within new communities; beyond education the campuses offer community infrastructure and a space for neighbourhood social connections.
In collaboration with the VSBA, consultant team and stakeholders, Emergent Studios has contributed to the development of an integrated landscape solution across each of the five schools, to develop a series of outdoor educational environments that complement the standardized built components including:
Key landscape components of each campus include: an activated public street frontage and arrival landscape, school community social spaces; accessible connections throughout, a centralised 'learning street' that links all school buildings, a school heart and diverse outdoor environments, incorporating outdoor learning, junior active and senior outdoor active play spaces, sensory and nature play elements, a gym circuit, multi-courts, sports fields, kitchen gardens, biodiverse planting and extensive tree shade canopy.
A ‘kit of parts’ masterplan approach guided the development of a template campus model. This allowed for an efficient design process within a project bundle delivery, ensured consistent amenity, functionality and management of project constraints and supported architecture and landscape integration. The masterplan was developed collaboratively in response to the project brief, context analysis, environmental conditions, functional school use and requirements, landscape programs and area schedules, accommodation of future growth and in compliance with the VSBA Building Quality Standards Handbook.
The approach fosters and enhances the different roles and requirements of the outdoor environment within the campus model: visual and physical connectivity support natural wayfinding, accessibility and permeability; strategic environmental amenity enhances long-term landscape performance in response to a changing climate and the Urban Heat Island Effect and integrated adjacencies complement internal and external educational curriculum to expand the classroom environment outdoors.
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