At the crux of the project is connection to nature, biophilia, and the connection between individual students and schools.
The Meadowbank Schools project is a once in a generation opportunity to create a learning environment for school students that is future focused, innovative and functional. An education precinct that is responsive to educational, economic and environmental conditions and requirements. A place that embodies the notion of lifelong learning, through local community outreach and considered engagement with neighbouring educational facilities, including TAFE NSW. A learning environment that is future flexible and adaptable to empower the next generation of students to excel in their education.
Talk to Georgia Singleton about Education and Science
At the crux of the Meadowbank Schools project is connection to nature, biophilia, and the connection between individual students and schools. This new education precinct encapsulates the idea of merge and transition to support, nurture and encourage students as they develop through the different learning stages, and is underpinned by research and an evidence based design approach.
We have approached the design to explore and discover different ways of connecting between the indoor and outdoor space, between the built form and the natural site environment, with a playful intention to engage with nature. The site specific context of a mature landscape and tree canopies is the defining character of the area and is brought into the design, responding to the innate human need to connect with the natural environment. It is this character that the architecture looks to work with, complement and enhance. From large stand alone trees to vast low level vegetation the site offers an impressive natural environment.
Within an existing network of trees, the Meadowbank Schools have been organised into twinned, two-storey buildings framing a central hill of libraries covered by cascading gardens. Each teaching level opens directly to nature and a series of connected open-ended courtyards creates protected areas for collaboration, performance, and outdoor learning.
Murals by community-endorsed multi-disciplinary artist and Dharug woman Jasmine Seymour also connect the Meadowbank Schools to Place and the ancient narratives of the local Dharug Country on which they stand – depicting local eels, fish, rivers, and birdlife.
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