Cowes Primary School by Project 12 Architecture | 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards
Educational Architecture
Bunurong

"The brief was to provide a new competition grade gymnasium for Cowes Primary School. The design specifically addresses the educational objectives of the school and provides a facility can be used by the broader community on Phillip Island. The new gymnasium has been designed to accommodate the whole school community and operate in a range of functions.
The school is located on Bunurong Country. After close consultation with the school, school council and wider community, it was decided to locate the gym adjacent an area of native bushland called the ‘Community Sanctuary’. The connection to landscape was a key driver in the design. It looked to re-establish the school’s engagement with the sanctuary, which was previously underutilised. Carefully considered views and connections are provided out to the landscape and to the adjoining pool, always anchoring the building within its immediate surrounds. An external teaching space adjoins the Music Room, nestled into the edge of the Sanctuary, providing an opportunity for students to learn directly within the landscape and emphasise their connection to country.

Prior to the completion of the new gym there was only one other public basketball court on the island. The school have established partnerships with local community groups who use the facility outside of school hours. The design provides an easily accessible and identifiable building for the school and wider community. At night, the translucent Danpalon cladding glows, acting as a beacon for those arriving.
Architecturally, the building has been designed to settle into the surrounding landscape through neutral and translucent materials which were carefully selected to provide a robust, low maintenance solution, particularly important in a coastal environment and in a high impact setting of a school gymnasium.

The planning of the building is simple and rational. The double height volume of the court is nestled on the edge of the ‘Sanctuary’, with a single storey volume to the north, that houses kitchen, entry and change rooms, which serve both the gym and existing pool. The raised floor of Music Room provides a stage for performing arts, presentations, assemblies, and school functions.

The consultant team included OPS Engineers, BRT Consulting Engineers, Simon Ellis Landscape Architects, Practical Ecology, Architecture and Access, Urban Digestor, Octave Acoustics, and Philip Chun Building Compliance to help design and deliver the project. Consultation with the ecologists and the landscape architect were particularly important to ensure minimal impact and a sensitive response to the surrounding Sanctuary.

The new gymnasium provided a highly cost-effective outcome, costing $2,931per/m2 ex GST. The project also included the refurbishment school’s old undersized gym into new STEM and Art classrooms, which were previously housed in old relocatable buildings.

Due to the limited project budget sustainability had to be considered from first principles in terms of orientation, thermal performance, natural ventilation, and daylight. Additional sustainable features include efficient electrical services and appliances, high thermal insulation to the external building envelope, sustainably sourced ply panels, low/ zero VOC products and E0 formaldehyde to engineered wood products."

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The Australian Institute of Architects Presentation to Juries offered entrants in the 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards an opportunity to address judges with their nominated projects.

Featuring some of Australia’s most prominent architects, Presentation to Juries is a rare opportunity for the public to learn about the influences behind some of Victoria’s most innovative buildings and follow the architectural process from concept to construction.

2023 Entrants Gallery
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