Cannon Hill Anglican College Lower Secondary Project

Cannon Hill Anglican College Lower Secondary building is an example of a successful collaboration with the client, achieving an outcome allowing both teachers and students to unfold and do well.
The main challenge for education is to teach knowledge enabling self-help and flexibility, the most valuable tools necessary to succeed in a rapidly changing future.

Students need to be engaged, connected and motivated: a goal the client and architects achieved through the provision of spaces that facilitate intellectual, emotional and environmental wellbeing as a backdrop to multi-disciplinary learning.

The new facilities are designed to support this teaching methodology. Classrooms have evolved from uni-directional teaching spaces to highly flexible environments. Operable walls and large glazed sliding doors enable a high range of configurations to teach, study and communicate in many conceivable ways within suitably artificial or natural surroundings. All class rooms are connected to both break out spaces and outdoor spaces via partially opaque glazed walls. To achieve the desired outcome the industry was involved in the design phase to come up with a non-pealing resilient writable surface with visibility gaps.

With a high thermal mass, good cross ventilation and low maintenance materials the building is designed to good environmental standards. While a high degree of glazing allows ample light, screens provide sun shading and filter views and light providing a semi-porous visibility which, simulates but does not mimic the natural shading quality of the surrounding gum trees.

For maximum efficiency, large areas used for milling or circulation during breaks double up as external teaching spaces. They are linked by IT and visibly connected to the classroom areas.

This page last updated: Tuesday 24 May 2016