HAMPTON EAST SCHOOL
The new Hampton East School is the result of the merger of two existing special schools, Berendale and Katandra Schools, on the Berendale school site in Hampton East. Berendale School provided a curriculum for students from Years 7-12, while Katandra School, formerly located in nearby Ormond, accommodated Prep to Year 6 students.
Client
Victorian School Building Authority
Project Type
Education/ Special Needs
Traditional Owners
Bunurong people
Completed
2024
Inclusive learning environments
Acoustically attenuated learning studios minimise impact on students with heightened or diminished sensory needs, and have direct connections to amenities, retreat spaces, and outdoor breakout spaces. The Middle Years/STEAM Centre has an outdoor learning terrace and covered pergola on the upper floor to maximise use of the constrained site while ensuring upper floor learning studios have access to natural daylight and connection to outdoor breakout spaces.
Freedom of movement
Retreat spaces are defined by curved openings and are located to allow direct access from learning studios while remaining visually connected, avoiding any sense of seclusion or restraint. External curved walls soften transitions between outdoor spaces and maximise sightlines through the site. The curved design language reappears on interior walls, as a motif on floor finishes and ceiling bulkheads, and even in the design of the joinery elements, with benchtop corners generously radiused to minimise sharp points and prevent injury.
Main ground floor entrances are signified by ‘punched’ openings into the brick façade, providing shelter and wayfinding cues. Colours and textures are employed to differentiate learning zones and to give each building a distinctive identity while forming a cohesive whole. Care was taken to provide internal finishes in warm, solid colours with minimal patterned surfaces, minimising visual noise for hypersensitive students. The circulation core in the Middle Years/STEAM building is finished in a pillar box red to double as a wayfinding element.
Wayfinding
1/2 Ground Floor Plan
2/2 First Floor Plan
KDA Team
Claire Carson, Sarah Morrison, Dominic On, Julia Meng, Chris Tuohy
Acknowledgements
Photographer
Tatjana Plitt