Tarneit Senior College

The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.

  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.
  • The blue and yellow billboard facade cuts through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia to give visual identity in a car dominated environment.

  • Design Response

    Tarneit Senior College lies on Leakes Road at the western fringe of outer suburban Melbourne – where a patchwork of housing estates pushes into the western rural plains in advance of adequate transport, roads and infrastructure. This project – the final stage of a three-stage masterplan commenced in 2012 – caters for this surging population growth and the subsequent surge in student enrolments. The student demographic maps Melbourne’s recent migration boom with representation from almost everywhere. This building is the first on the site by other than the original architect which required careful negotiation between the existing context and an evolving school identity.

    The jagged geometry of the existing school was embraced but rationalised so as to deliver a dynamic external expression without unnecessary complication. This geometry negotiates the complex adjacent arrangement of buildings, locker areas, walkways, services infrastructure, Indigenous cultural heritage and landscape.

    The canary yellow of the zigzag feature facade of the adjoining building was combined with sky blue to create a billboard facade in the school colours facing Leakes Road. This intentionally goes head-to-head with Bunnings, A-mart and other big box retail, cutting through the sparse monotony of outer suburbia and giving visual identity in a car dominated environment. Without identifying text or logo it draws on the block colour tradition of modernist painting and in doing so presents itself as if in a roadway landscape by Jeffrey Smart.

    The resultant roof volume gives generous opportunity to carve out ceiling voids and skylights within the primary internal spaces – which includes classrooms, meeting rooms, collaborative work spaces and amenities. The externally accessible amenities block – much desired as it happens nowhere else in the school – forms a joiner to the existing building and creates an external walkway connection from north to south.

  • Services Provided

    • Full Services

    Architect

    Workshop Architecture

    People

    Project Director: James Staughton
    Project Team: William Heath, Ehsan Khoshnami, Simone Koch
    Photographer: John Gollings

    Date completed

    April 2024

    Location

    Bunurong Country / Tarneit

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