“The Nano Nagle Learning Centre is a new building that replaces the school’s aging stock and embraces the current teaching methodologies.”

Client Name: Nagle College Bairnsdale

Area: 980² + ancillary works

Construction Budget: $1.9m

Builder: Brooker Builders

The school required a new building that included 8 classrooms, a staff room, audio-visual presentation area and associated toilet facilities. The design reflects the current teaching pedagogy of multifunctional educational spaces, that can accommodate different modes of teaching. These include traditional classrooms with students facing a teacher, group teaching between classrooms, and one on one break out areas. This is achieved through a shared central area that can be used as a break out space from the classrooms, operable walls and large sliding doors that allow for endless configurations of the space. The space can also be opened up for special events and presentations. These operable walls have high acoustic values including double glazed stacking doors that allow for different types of classes to occur adjacent each other without disruptions to either. In addition, there is an outdoor learning area that provides a non formalised teaching space adjacent two of the classrooms. This space uses hardwood extensively to provide a softer more relaxed teaching environment with built-in seating and sun protection.

The building was designed to sit comfortably with the existing 1970’s & 1980’s brick classrooms adjacent. The building form is in scale with these buildings at the entry and then rises dramatically toward the rear. The building’s materials were selected to reflect these existing materials and reimagine them in a contemporary form. They included clay bricks and expressed hardwood detailing highlighted with a bold yellow façade. The building features a dramatic roof form that addresses the school’s entry to the South and the buildings main elevation. The interior uses a neutral palette with bright colour accents in the joinery and finishes. The central area is crowned with a custom-made light fitting that zig-zags through the space and draws the eye to the rear of the internal space. The audio-visual area at the back of the space has feature orange tiered seating and timber detailing. The building generally has an abundance of natural light with all of the classrooms having external windows and the central area having North facing openable highlight windows.

The new building demonstrates Nagle College’s commitment to it’s current and future students to provide state of the art facilities and learning environments that can be adapted to future needs.