Newhaven College: Designing a school to battle the elements of Philip Island

Originally located in the Newhaven region of Philip Island, Newhaven College has now transitioned to a larger new campus in the middle of the island. The Senior Learning Centre accommodates students approaching graduation in years 10-12 at the new campus.

In addition to the Senior Learning Centre, the new facilities provide more nuanced, purposeful learning spaces to support a broad-based pedagogy across the school. There are a range of informal zones for smaller groups and collaborative study-based work, plus specialist spaces centred around science and arts. Take for example the materials workshop, where students can participate in hands-on learning opportunities with electronics, robotics, coding, design, multimedia, printing and fabrication.

“We wanted to create a mature setting for students where they could work together on small projects – a skill that’s essential in any career,” says Owen West, senior associate at Hayball.

“We took a lot of inspiration from modern co-working spaces – the look and feel and how they utilise space - to emulate workplaces of the future.

“In terms of the architectural response, rather than creating two distinct buildings, we approached the design by creating one building across two sites with a similar architectural language, separated by an existing campus road.

“Specific site conditions were also a big factor behind the design. Taking into account the strong winds for which the island is infamous, our design utilised every possibility to mitigate the effect of the elements. The buildings are shaped to create protective outdoor spaces, while walkways have added weather protection. We also selected high quality materials to address the challenges of building in coastal areas like Philip Island.”

The project's builder, DAS Construction, won Regional Master Builder of the Year (Commercial) at the 2018 Master Builders Excellence in Construction Awards for the project. The builder was rewarded for its high accuracy as well as the ability to keep the project within budget. 

SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES

• Building siting to provide protection against strong prevailing winds
• Feature west-facing shade screen provides passive shading and defines a covered link between the two buildings
• A hybrid ventilation system provides natural ventilation to the main central breakout spaces of the buildings when occupied and a night purge mode to cool the interior to reduce cooling requirements during the warmer conditions during the day
• Motorised relief air louvres located at a high level in the ceiling chimneys which forms part of the hybrid ventilation system
• Fixed sun shading to all external windows to control solar heat gain through external glazed windows and doors
• Water tanks harvest and store rainwater from the roof for irrigation and toilet flushing
• High efficiency LED light fittings with a combination of motion/daylight sensor control 

KEY PRODUCTS/SUPPLIERS