In June 2018, the New South Wales Premier and Member for Ryde unveiled plans for the new Meadowbank Education Precinct comprising a primary school, high school and revitalised Meadowbank TAFE.

Gray Puksand were engaged as Head Design Consultant to deliver state-of-the art specialist vocational education and training facilities for TAFE Meadowbank. This will be in the form of a Construction and Building Trades Facility (Multi-Trades Hub), Information and Communications Technology / Cyber Security Facility and upgrades to campus access, look and feel through enhancements of the campus spine, entrance landscaping and site infrastructure.

Today, the approach to education is increasingly about active engagement in co-operative tasks that foster learning as a social process. It is also about appealing to the interests and motivations of individuals, while offering them suitable levels of challenge and the satisfaction
of personalised achievement.

Such considerations are particularly relevant in the TAFE NSW environment, where students will interact with the ‘interconnected training network’ in diverse ways over varied timeframes.

In this changing educational landscape it is important to view new learning spaces not as backdrops to teaching and learning, but as dynamic settings conducive to the development of practical skills. Spaces that can afford a variety of learning opportunities and encourage the deep engagement of students in a range of meaningful and valuable activities – both formal and informal.

The new Hub will provide a venue for learning that embraces the future of skills training in the building and construction industry. The fabric of the built form will both passively and actively contribute to the teaching and learning experience. The architecture will expose the activity and opportunity housed within and be an invitation to explore new skills and knowledge. The building will demonstrate multidisciplinary collaboration and enable teaching and learning skills training and digital technologies. The Hub will connect and create great social spaces, both inside and across the adjacent landscaped spaces.

Upon completion, the precinct will cater for students from as early as Kindergarten, through to Year 12 and into vocational or tertiary education pathways.

Design: Gray Puksand
Photography: Brett Boardman