Woods Bagot has released renders for the new Sydney Olympic Park High School.
Located in Wentworth Point on the southern bank of the Parramatta River, the school is to be built on a former intertidal mudflat.
The building is completely prefabricated and will be built using the Design for Manufacture and Assembly process offsite, before being put together onsite. It will be delivered in two stages, with the first catering for 850 students, and finally expanding to 1,530. All classrooms will be contained within a single six-storey building, with a hall for sport and performing arts located to the north of the site. While there will be enough play space for the 850 students in the first stage, the practice indicates in the planning documents that there may need to be more play space added to ensure there is enough for the full 1,530.
The building, with a solid masonry base, is split into two wings of teaching space that are configured by a consistent structural grid. Woods Bagot indicates in the planning notes how the design connects students to the ground level as best as possible, with a viewing corridor linking Burroway Road to the river and parklands implemented into the building.
To ensure ease of access, each floor is defined by a different colour, with each shade referencing the river and landscape.
“Textured, subtly reflective metal screens change in response to the shifting colours and patterns of the sky,” says Woods Bagot in a design statement.
“The composition seems at first random, but the observer will find their own meanings and connections – as we do in the clouds.”
Construction on the school is scheduled for mid 2022, with completion anticipated for sometime in 2023.
