Box Hill North Primary School by Sibling Architecture

Combining elements from the surrounding residential context with a fresh, playful architectural language, Sibling Architecture’s Box Hill North Primary School (Junior Learning Hub) is a comforting and welcoming learning space for the school’s youngest students.

When Sibling Architecture embarked on the design of this project, it used the suburban context as the conceptual starting point. The eight-classroom facility is designed for students in prep, year one and year two. For many students, these classrooms will be the first place in which they spend significant time away from home. By incorporating local, vernacular elements into the design, Sibling sought to make the school experience feel familiar – like an extension of home.

The surrounding streetscape is dominated by hip-roofed, single-storey houses in brick veneer. The formal and material interpretation of this streetscape at Junior Learning Hub is an abstracted one. The proportion of brick base and lightweight canopy bears a semblance to the neighbouring homes, but the form of the roof is much more stylized. Boxy rather than hipped, the canopy’s “ridge” is expressed as a dynamically profiled parapet line. Similarly, the cream and orange bricks that have been appropriated from the surrounds are arranged into a graphic composition that is unique to the area, with bright orange window frames punctuating the openings. The result is a striking facade that gives the school’s main frontage a strong and defined street presence that it previously lacked.

A curved motif, which appears both in plan and section, is also a departure from the existing neighbourhood character. The curve began as a device to define areas for gathering, particularly the two scooped entry points at either end of the building. As the node between the new Junior Learning Hub and the existing kindergarten, the east entry is of particular importance. Its curved entry point, with incorporated seating areas, creates a civically generous space for the two student groups and their families to gather and socialize.

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Each pair of classrooms is divided by an operable wall so that larger spaces are available when required.

Image: Tope Adesina

The soft curve reappears internally. As at the entry points, inside the classrooms, circular shapes – this time in the carpet – indicate gathering points. In section, a series of gently curving light scoops draw southern sun into the central corridor and the south-facing classrooms.

The plan has a staggered form, creating both a stepped external edge and a zigzagging internal corridor. Rather than reading as a singular, sheer wall externally, the mass is broken up into a series of smaller forms that are more domestic in scale. The staggered form also enables corner glazing to each classroom both externally and into the shared corridor, increasing passive surveillance on both sides.

The zigzagging corridor is more like an activated internal street and an extension of the learning spaces than a circulation space. Wide and generous, its footprint comprises a meandering path with a series of cosy nooks along its length. Defined by a bright orange that continues across all finishes and joinery, it includes a communal wet area with taps, a bank of upholstered seats, and study desks. The corridor is a striking and vibrant space and surely one that energizes the students each day.

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In contrast to the corridor’s vibrant palette, classrooms are given calmer blue and green tones.

Image: Tope Adesina

By contrast, the classrooms are zoned in calmer green and blue tones, with colour used to group certain classrooms together as “neighbourhoods.” The eight classrooms are organized into pairs, with operable walls in between to enable shared larger classrooms when needed.

Box Hill North Primary School’s Junior Learning Hub is responsive to its young students’ needs as well as the needs of the campus. The site planning provides the school with a stronger street presence and a more considered connection to the existing kindergarten. The learning spaces, which bring together elements of the familiar with brightly coloured, graphic forms, are fun, engaging and comfortable.