In architecture The Pavilion is seen as progressive, democratic and a canvas for creativity. Gray Puksand have drawn on this symbolism to create a culture of dynamic learning in the heart of Sydney suburbia. This project shows how architecture can be both elevated and accessible.

The Institute of Applied Technology – Construction (IATC) is located in the Kingswood Campus of TAFE NSW, west of Sydney’s CBD. Nestled in the landscape, the building is surrounded by parkland and can be entirely circumnavigated, permitting views into and out of the spaces within. Seeing all sites of a building is an increasingly challenging feat in our era of highly serviced architecture. There is no back door. Even where service vehicles enter aesthetics are as front of mind as the functionality.

It’s not that all sides of this Pavilion of Learning are the same. The structural grid provides the rhythm while the programming of spaces wax and wane in plan and in elevation. This enables the outside and inside to interlock and provide multiple settings for learning and teaching.

The expressed architectural structure emerges from an environmental response to the climatic extremes of the locale. The roof and soffit work to contain the mass of the rational rectangular plan, utilising the module and emancipating vocational trades from a traditional siloed learning approach to large volume adaptable, flexible workshop and learning space. Embracing the site topography, the building boasts both lower and upper ground floor levels, accessible from the primary east and west entrances, linked via the activated central atrium space and integrating the campus architecture to the future development plans of the adjoining university campus.

The lower ground floor is designed for uninterrupted access, maximising functionality of large triple, double and single volume workshop spaces to the northern and southern aspects, merging seamlessly to outdoor spaces through operable facades. Specialist laboratories and general learning spaces are supported with state-of-the-art technology, linking physically and visually to the internal practical spaces, and the central atrium at every opportunity.

Social interaction and passive learning activate the central atrium, linking breakout and café spaces, with formal learning, group learning, exhibition and dedicated staff workspace enabling a highly functional floor plan.

Materiality is robust with the solidity of GRC facade panels, glass, steel and timber accents, while furnishings are intentionally flexible, while also adding warmth. Light penetrates the building from all sides and the roof, where the ceiling has been stripped back to allow transparency.

IATC also includes many sustainability initiatives. Targeting Five-Star, Green Star as-built certification, internal ventilation, power generation and grey water reuse systems are incorporated. The landscape has been planted with Indigenous flora endemic to the area informed by consultation with the local Darug Nation Community.

This new Pavilion of Learning at the Kingswood campus stands aside the main campus and, while singular in its location, it also becomes an extension of the terrain. This civic building represents a powerful vision for education design that is democratic, accessible, and responds elegantly to site and brief.

Design: Gray Puksand
Photography: Brett Boardman