General Purpose Flexible Learning Area (GPFLA), Officer
This new General Purpose classroom building sits in the midst of St Francis Xavier College, a Catholic secondary school on the outskirts of Melbourne, like an ocean liner in the field of green it is both the vessel for learning and the harbour.
The brief for this new building was to design fluid and flexible learning spaces that were variable and non-hierarchal to accommodate changes to the pedagogy of the school, that fostered interaction and collaboration.
“The honeycomb is absolutely perfect in economizing labour and wax.” - Charles Darwin
Like the beehive, the building aims for efficiency in spatial organisation, providing omnidirectional classrooms that interconnect to enable a range of open gathering rooms, breakout spaces and smaller study booths.
The interior finishes celebrate the Biophilic in both the organic materials used as in the bamboo lining and the patterns in the carpet that reflect natural geometries and reinforce the working hive of the school.
By combining the spatial functionality of the hexagon with the pastoral care notion of the harbour we aimed to create a place that was multi-faceted, busy and nurturing that enables a fluid cross-pollination of learning and teaching.