Project: Box Hill North Primary School
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Architect: Sibling Architecture
Awards: 2023 Victorian Institute of Architects Award Winner, Education Category
Colours: Bilberry 514 | Cornflower 575 | Evergreen 565 | Orange Squash 585 | Peacock 558 | Birch 538
Box Hill Primary: Neighbourhoods For Learning
Located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Box Hill North Primary School is a celebrated community school. Architects, Sibling Architecture, initially completed a master plan for the campus, followed by the recent completion of stage one. This plan has given the school their new Junior Learning Hub and integrated kindergarten, while also delivering on the aspiration of a new street presence and address for the otherwise underutilised campus.
The initial master plan stage looked at both interior and exterior. To further develop the school, Sibling, chose to integrate the dedicated community facilities to welcome in the broader community, and to eventually become a place for all. It was about siting new and existing school buildings within curated landscaped pockets to create an enhanced sense of arrival and street presence for the school, as well as fostering a better cohesiveness of year levels across the campus.
The bold white and orange stepped architecture of the Junior Learning Hub employs flexible learning spaces within and aims to create dedicated neighbourhoods for each junior learning cohort. With operable walls across paired classrooms and collaboration pockets between each neighbourhood, the new centre offers opportunities for shared learning, quiet spaces, and withdrawal, whilst always being cognizant of sightlines from surrounding internal neighbourhoods. ~ Sibling Architecture
The materials chosen, by Sibling Architects, play off the key conceptual idea of brining the familiarity of home into the school campus. For many young children, the school becomes a home away from home. Materials such as cream brick, light timber and the all-familiar corrugated metal found across many suburban homes were all incorporated into the Junior Learning Hub to create a welcoming place to learn.
The landscape extends these ideas outwards, creating an inviting pocket at each end of the Junior Learning Hub. Getting inspiration from the colours found in native flora along the adjacent Koonung Koonung Creek, vibrant tones of green, orange, and blue unfold throughout the spaces. Adopting this into the architecture allowed for exciting and meaningful connection back to the school’s surroundings.
Original article from Sibling Architecture
