Project Statement
Docklands Senior College is an experimental vertical high school designed to foster collaboration and community engagement among students in Years 10–12. The design emphasizes learning that happens both inside and outside the classroom through a network of mixed-use, permeable, and outdoor spaces that blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor, and school and city.
Responding to its dense urban site along Harbour Esplanade, the project is divided into two interconnected buildings that balance openness and vertical integration. Each building utilises design to emphasise verticality, while a bridge linking the two creates permeability across the site. The first building, containing the staff and wellness hubs, features two oculi that bring light into the interior, while the second, housing the library and teaching spaces, is united by a central lightwell void that visually and spatially connects all levels.
Views and transparency are central to the pedagogy: full-height glazing along the stacked stairwells creates visual continuity between floors and the broader community, encouraging awareness, collaboration, and exchange. Constructed from both a cross-laminated timber (CLT) column structure and a bridge warren truss, the structure highlights sustainable materiality and invites innovation for a more sustainable future. The design seeks to combine design and pedagogy to create an adaptable model for future learning environments in Victoria.
Docklands Location Plan Massing Model
Precedent Massing Models:
South Melbourne Primary School, Hayball and Cal Maiol Primary School, Flores and Prats.