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Bayswater Secondary College

Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.

  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.
  • Sloping towards Dandenong Creek, the natural setting of the college is embraced by an architecture of rural form and public connectivity.

  • Design Response

    Undertaking a project for an existing school is often an act of remediation – transforming an existing building or area of a school that has become worn, providing neglected spaces with new qualities.

    With Baywater Secondary College we were presented with a unique and envious situation – a significant transformation of an existing school, which, by removal of several ageing buildings, did not increase the building density of the site. This in turn allowed the site, with its connection to Dandenong Creek and views to the Dandenong Ranges, to retain its almost bucolic character.

    In this context our task was not an addition but a reinvention of the school, allowing its spaces to better accommodate the school’s pedagogy, the learning needs of its students and connect its activities into its landscape.

    To do this, we eschewed the need to relate the new buildings to what was retained. Occupying either side of the campus, the forms of these existing buildings are oriented to the street and expressive- overtly civic in nature. Our approached was to create, through the middle of the school, multiple connection and viewpoints, buildings seen in the round; an architecture that draws similarities more with rural buildings rather with than urban ones.

    The classroom buildings’ approach to contemporary pedagogy is based on principles of variety and connectivity rather than privileging large shared spaces. The classroom buildings, in double year level groupings, feature generous covered eave spaces, that together within internal courtyards, alternate between covered outdoor learning areas and breakout spaces along their central axis. Placed either side of this axis, the classrooms are able to connect with these areas or be separated from them, providing an array of flexible learning configurations rather than a one size fits all open teaching space.

     

  • Services Provided

    • Full Services

    Architect

    Workshop Architecture

    People

    Project Director: Simon Whibley
    Project Team: Wanwan Darmali, Jamie Kelson, Ehsan Khoshnami, Simone Koch, Jaime Fuenzalida
    Photographer: Peter Bennetts

    Date completed

    March 2024

    Location

    Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country / Bayswater

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