Shellharbour School

The Shellharbour School building is an addition to an existing school campus located on a picturesque hillside south of Sydney. The site is located next to the existing theatre and forms the last element in the current masterplan. The building contains a diverse set of functions that do not naturally co-exist: drama, music and food preparation. The budget was incredibly tight and based upon a low square metre rate applied to the basic area schedule. However, looking across the masterplan it was obvious that the adoption of a spreadsheet-based procurement logic had precluded any thinking about interstitial spaces that provide for the informal meetings, conversations and activities so important for creativity and communication.

TYPE Education
LOCATION Shellharbour | AU
YEAR 2016
PHOTOGRAPHY
Brett Boardman

APPROACH

"Third Space" Diagram

Program: Brief

Program: Adjustment

Program: Refinement

Taking the functional tensions between the three uses as a cue to reconsider the project, TERROIR designed three separate, discrete pavilions – one for each function – that increased wall area but resolved functional and acoustic issues. A single overhanging roof binds the three together as one project. This combination of discrete pavilions and roof produced a series of covered outdoor learning spaces including a ‘circulation threshold’ that runs between each of the pavilions and a series of ‘view pockets’ between each building, which are smaller in scale and combine focused views with skylights. In addition, the landform was used to add an entirely new space: an outdoor theatre that extends the drama space using the natural fall of the ground.

Shellharbour School

APPROACH

GALLERY

DRAWINGS

MODELS