ECHUCA SCHOOLS REGENERATION
The Echuca Schools Regeneration Project brings three previously distinct education communities together onto a single site to establish a new school community. This project, whilst on a green field site, required sensitive listening, understanding and open communication between communities that would all call this campus home.
Client
Victorian School Building Authority
Project Type
Education/ Masterplanning
Completed
2020
Traditional Owners
Yorta Yorta people
Inclusive communities
The Project brief involved the merger of three schools- Echuca West Primary School, Echuca South Primary School and Echuca Specialist School. Planning comprised a large number of stakeholders, including the staff, students and parents of the merging schools, Echuca College representatives, VSBA, DET NWV Region, Campaspe Shire Council and the Njernda Aboriginal Corporation. It became apparent early in the Master Plan process that imagined barriers between the individual schools needed to be broken. Regular meetings with the planning committee and staff and student workshops became the first steps in easing anxiety, enabling students to ‘dream big’ and begin building a new school community.
“Well before creating the plans for the school, Kneeler Design met with the students from both schools to discuss their vision for the new co-location. They took the time to listen to all the discussion to ensure that the plans reflected the needs of the entire school community.
The feedback was extremely positive, especially from the students that felt their voices had been heard.”
Echuca Twin Rivers Schools education rationale envisages ‘specialist’ and ‘mainstream’ communities hybridise, forming a single inclusive learning community with no barriers between ‘mainstream’ and ‘specialist’ learning. The strategic positioning of the vibrant, inclusive café and kitchen within the main foyer ensures personal and social capability is promoted. The facility inspires creativity and curiosity– student artwork adorns the walls, cooking aromas filter through the foyer and learning takes place in a stimulating environment. The diversity of this experience celebrates the diversity of the student body.
Celebrating diversity
Unique learning opportunities
An opportunity arose within this project to extend the environmental initiatives by raising awareness of the plight of the Plains Wanderer- a threatened ground dwelling bird, endemic throughout the northern grass plains surrounding Echuca. We drew inspiration from the bird’s speckled plumage to inform the material selections & window/ signage graphics within the design. The school community embraced the conservation of the Plains Wanderer as an important learning opportunity and liaised with researchers to improve their understanding of the threats faced by the species.
KDA Team
Jacqui Laws, Claire Carson, Eldo Di Muccio, Alison Jessup, Sarah Morrison, Dominic On, Karolien Vanhee
Acknowledgements
Photographer
Shayne Hill, Mark Farelly
2021
Victorian School Design Awards: Best School project above $10M- Finalist