HPSC SENIOR LEARNING CENTRE

John Gollings

HAMPTON PARK SECONDARY COLLEGE SENIOR LEARNING CENTRE

• Architects

A humble public secondary school in the culturally diverse outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne has seen an existing gymnasium intended for demolition transformed into a state-of-the-art senior learning centre by WOWOWA.
The Hampton Park Secondary School Senior School has been developed to address the changing pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning identified by HPSC. As the first stage of the the Hampton Park Secondary School Masterplan, the
Senior School Project begins the building works to the school, cementing the move towards a subschool model.

photo_credit John Gollings — John Gollings

In this project, the existing Small Gym is converted into a Senior Learning School, facilitating VCE and VCAL learning, GPC’s and breakout learning spaces for student led independent study. Among other outcomes, the facility will promote student
engagement and focus on enhancing the sense of community within the Senior subschool and throughout the entire school.

WOWOWA has converted an existing gym into an eye-catching dedicated learning space – one with all the technological and pedagogical bells and whistles. “The design celebrated elements of the existing space to create a unique adult learning
environment for VCE and VCAL students,” explains WOWOWA Director Scott Woodward, who describes it as an “adaptive reuse project”. Disregarding the tired, dull tones often associated with public school buildings, WOWOWA has injected vibrancy and life into the design. Upon entering, one passes through an extended tunnel in which every surface – floor, ceiling, wall – is a blazing orange, a visual wakeup call indicating that one should be prepared for a different kind of learning environment.

At the other end of the transition, it opens to reveal the previous gymnasium structure, the existing features of high ceilings and skylights given new life in the invigorated design. The original floorboards of the old gym have been retained and rejuvenated creating a multi-use space, equally apt for throwing a basketball or sitting and enjoying some lunch. Accessible from here, past the ‘Gumby’-reminiscent columns or up the eucalypt-green stairs and balcony, are a series of flexible classrooms, easily transformable to accommodate the ever-changing and often complex experience of VCE (Years 11 and 12) education.