A newly opened education centre at Lewisham, NSW, represents the antithesis of a traditional teaching facility, according to its designers Allen Jack+Cottier (AJ+C).
The Eileen O’Connor Centre was designed to dissolve the barriers between teachers and students, deliver the latest learning technologies and empower students to take responsibility for individual learning programs.
Designed for The Catholic Education Office, Sydney, Stage 1 of the building provides flexible teaching and learning spaces, with the ability to mix traditional and technology-based teaching, and can be configured to deliver a range of different learning environments, depending on the needs of the group using them.
AJ+C design director Jim Koopman said: “Stage 1 was completed over the Christmas break and absolutely transformed a 70’s brick institutional school into a transparent, interactive and exciting place to learn.”
The Eileen O’Connor Centre’s interactive approach to teaching called for a whole-of- school approach to the building, incorporating flexible interactive spaces that are in themselves a ‘textbook’ in curriculum integration.
“AJ+C’s response went beyond the brief, to deliver a thoughtful, flexible building that meets our practical needs, and also embodies our objectives as a learning institution,’ said Seamus O’Grady, Catholic Education Office Sydney Director of Curriculum.
The Centre addresses the diverse specialist learning needs of teachers and students in NSW Catholic schools, in particular:
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Students with disabilities or sensory impairment
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New arrival students and those for whom English is an additional language
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Gifted and talented students.
Stage 1 incorporates alterations and additions to existing buildings to provide a contemporary technology based research and learning centre.
A masterplan has been prepared for successive stages, which will deliver a specialist educational campus with landscaped entry courtyards and play areas in the heritage setting of the nearby 1850’s St Thomas Becket Church.
