Duncraig Senior High Year 7 Block

Duncraig is a school built in 1979 for students from Year 8 to Year 12 with single story classrooms set in a natural Australian bush environment. There had been no upgrade since that time. The classrooms are faculty based with each separate building having a central ‘break out’ space that the classrooms feed into. The entrance to the school was unattractive and uninviting. The brief to the architects was to create a block of classrooms to accommodate the new intake of Year 7 students for 2015. Since there still existed considerable natural bush to the north of the block, the new buildings should open to a new entrance from a different road that would in effect turn the school around. The new entry would be welcoming and the Year 7 block should be in close proximity to a new administration and reception area. The building should offer teaching and learning spaces that, while in keeping with the rest of the school buildings in terms of size and materials, should provide a safe, separate and age appropriate facility.