The Essington School Computer Centre by MODE DESIGN

The Essington School Computer Centre strikes a fine balance between work and play, a cheerful affirmation to its pupils that walls don’t necessarily have to be built straight, that windows don’t always have to be rectilinear, and that building materials and colours can be challenging, bold and vibrant.

Commissioned by The Essington School in Darwin as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations, it was up to Mode Design to create a facility specifically tailored to the school’s innovative, techno-savy teaching methodologies in regards to computers and information technology. A winner of the Australian Institute of Architects Public Architecture and People’s Choice Awards for the Northern Territory chapter, the acclaimed building brings joy and liveliness to the student learning environment.

In taking note of students’ positive responses, which saw a widespread desire to learn and work within the facility, The Essington School Computer Centre acts as a testament for future educational built works, in that classrooms need not adhere to traditional notions of ‘the box’. The building was designed to be a seamless transition between play time and class time, and sits within a junior school play area where children are free to roam and interact around the building, playing games and hiding between its circular windows trying not to be seen in games of hide and seek.

The prominent position of the building along the main road and dropoff area provided a great opportunity for the school to showcase its development over the past twenty years, where vibrant cladding and circular windows act as playful architectonic devices that celebrate and mark the gateway for the rest of the school. A creative yet spatially utilitarian design outcome, the Computer Centre houses two generous 100-square-metre teaching spaces, four 9-square-metre group work studios and a staff room that has full visual surveillance of the spaces within.

The teaching spaces offer flexibility for change, where areas can be adapted for new technological advancements over the building’s life cycle. Within the Computer Centre, transitional learning areas foster smaller group interactions, and specially designed studios house creative music and film editing functions. Extensive internal glazing within the Centre allows for abundant natural daylight to penetrate through the building whilst allowing staff to monitor student computer use.

The Computer Centre responds to the harsh tropical climate of Darwin through vernacular design principles which also minimise the building’s energy consumption. Designed to cope with the potentially destructive forces of tropical cyclones, its portal frame structural system is durable and sturdy yet appears lightweight and slender. Traditional educational facilities in Darwin have often comprised of masonry constructions resulting in harsh bunker-like aesthetics. The Essington School Computer Centre breaks away from these old methods and provides an excellent example of lightweight yet robust construction for the Australian tropics.

Change and programmatic flexibility were issues kept in mind in the building’s portal frame structural system, allowing internal walls to remain non-load bearing for possible reconfiguration, extending the building’s life in being designed for deconstruction. An oversized custom stainless steel half round box gutter and bright red rainwater head not only ensure the building copes with Darwin’s heavy rainfall, but adds to the life of the building, creating a kind of caricature of tropical design elements.

Mode Design has created a cheerful architectural work of applaudable merit in The Essington School Computer Centre, resulting in a fun and stimulating work environment. The building gives off cheeky and sometimes mischievous appearances, as expressive as the children for whom the spaces have been designed. +