GREENHILLS PRIMARY SCHOOL STAGE 1 - Greensborough VIC

Prior to the Stage 1 redevelopment, GPS was housed in two long LTC buildings and a flotilla of relocatables. The Education Department, as part of its renewal program, decreed that the LTCs were to be replaced with new permanent classrooms, administration and specialist facilities.

The master plan located these facilities in three separate buildings: a two storey twelve general purpose classroom block, an administration building, a specialist block and a set of relocatables. The former two comprised Stage 1 and the latter two Stage 2. The three buildings were organized around a green quadrangle designed for quiet play and reflection. Active play areas are located some distance away.

Each building is organized around internal courtyard spaces. That in the administration building is designed for quiet activities, principally for the staff, offering them the opportunity for pause and retreat from the hurly burly of school life. It also introduces light and ventilation into the interior of the building. The classroom block has one central courtyard and 2 half courtyards at each end for outdoor learning, providing light and ventilation to both sides of the classrooms and quiet learning areas on both levels. Circulation on both levels is around the perimeter, an efficient solution for a tight budget.

The buildings are designed with three vertical orders: a brick plinth; glazing and façade panels; and a strong roof profile expressed with canted eaves soffits. The facades of the two buildings are different: the classroom block more regular, expressive of repetitive order of the classrooms; the administration building is more varied, expressive of the variety of spaces within. A porch with a large sign addresses the parking lot and signifies the formal entry to the school.

Photography - John Gollings