2021 Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture

Jury citation

Brit Andresen, who was called on to give early design appraisals for this project, raised the obvious but oft-ignored challenge for large sports buildings: the need to “humanize the space.” The architect’s success in meeting this challenge at Barker College Rosewood Centre is a palpable element of the work and evident even through the Zoom screen.

Large spaces are described by the necessary structure, poetically revealed and concealed for spatial effect. This engaging proposition of structure and space develops a sports hall for a child’s psyche. In the case of adolescents, architecture, as elusive as it may be, is able to influence a higher sense of order; and this is now possible at Barker College, a progressive co-educational private school.

Transcending its use as a sports hall, this building has become a core entry building into the college. The architecture is carefully planned around an undulating landform and an adjacent playing field; a certain preciseness in dimensions contributes to a subtle relationship with the horizon. Equally, an understanding of materials, their permanence or fragility, is demonstrated in the judgements about how light might enter the space and how movement may transform an interior to develop that “humanity” which was sought and delivered in spades.

This consideration of the nature of movement of both people and climate has a resonating presence in decisions about circulation and engagement with the landscape and the outside world, which is at once present and absent from focus.

This building is a signal of optimism for Barker College that will have a reach into the spatial consciousness of many young adults for years to come.

Project credits

Architect: Neeson Murcutt and Neille; Project team: Rachel Neeson, Stephen Neille, Tamas Jones, Joseph Grech, Ben Dixon, Clayton Edwards, Kirsty Hetherington, Davin Turner, Nicole Cusack, Carmen Chan, Stephanie Brancatisano, Jeff Grant, Daisy Zhang, Yishun Tang; Builder: Prime Constructions; Project manager: EPM; Town planner: Mersonn; Quantity surveyor: MBM; Heritage consultant: Paul Davies; Structural engineer: SDA Structures; Landscape consultant: 360 Degrees; Tree management: Arborsafe; Traffic consultant: TEF Consulting; Fire consultant: Holmes Fire; Security consultant: Neal Consulting Solutions; Geotechnical engineer: JK Geotechnics; Consulting engineers: Arup, JHA; Signage consultant: MAAT; Other consultants: Funktion, Lymesmith, Steve Watson and Partners, Elite Certification

Barker College Rosewood Centre is located in Hornsby, New South Wales, on the land of the Darug people.