BROADMEADOWS SPECIAL DEVELOPMENTAL SCHOOL

Broadmeadows Special Developmental School is a co-ed government special education school for primary and secondary aged students who have an intellectual disability. The Sorrento Campus is one of two campuses, co-located within the Broadmeadows Education precinct. This project involves the construction of an Administration Hub & a Community Hub.

Completed

2025

Traditional Owners

Wurundjeri people

Project Type

Special Needs

Client

Victorian School Building Authority

A permanent legacy

From the beginning of this project it was clear that this school had a unique and complex set of circumstances. The majority of the school site consisted of portables crammed onto a slope, with a barely adequate bus loop matched with a problematic onsite traffic set up. The threat of rock, impossible site access and decanting added to our list of ‘impossi-puzzles’ to solve. Our solution was to reroute and rebuild a more functional bus loop, insert a prominent Administration building on the slope to overlook the rest of the site, and to carve out a significant part of the slope. Suddenly, we created an interesting cut and fill challenge that featured cantilevering structures and semi-tanked retaining walls. Reclaiming usable ground spoke to our desire to gift a permanent legacy for future generations. We understood that the opportunity for bold moves come about rarely.

We took the challenges of the school as the seed for our earnest critical response to the design. We prioritised building community spaces as the school had been operating out of portables successfully for over two decades. What the school was missing was a good sized gymnasium, food technology space and various specialist and therapy spaces which were brought together under one roof. The sociable spaces of the gymnasium and administration building opens up to a shared courtyard, and one day, will be shaded by healthy generous canopied trees. It was a unique and complex experience to serve the school and to meet all the requirements of the administrative machinery. Together we believe we have created a unique and complex place.