Cranbrook Junior School NSW, Rose Bay building design, Australian education architecture photos

Cranbrook Junior School in Rose Bay, NSW

19 August 2025

Architects: Tzannes

Location: Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia

photo © Simon Wood

Photos © John Gollings, Simon Wood and Richard Glover

Cranbrook Junior School, Rose Bay, NSW, Australia

With the initial masterplan by Mayoh Architects, the site planning for the Cranbrook Junior School was developed to maximise solar access from the north, provide a clear vehicular and pedestrian access, and fit the campus within the existing urban setting.

photo © John Gollings

Alec Tzannes’ design principles of ‘quality’ and ‘appropriateness’ stated in his early career are reaffirmed here: ‘We developed a built form and architectural language for the school that is “appropriate” to its place and its use … It responds to the school’s demands for “quality” and desire to build for the long term’.

The creation of functional arrangements and progressive experiences guided by Reggio Emilia was a major design driver. The campus is like a ‘village’ and learning is integrated with environmental experiences akin to such a setting. This includes making visible the environmental design and technologies of the architecture as a learning opportunity.

photo © John Gollings

The architecture responds to the significant changes experienced by the students as they grow throughout their school years. Lower-scale buildings for the kindergarten to second year schoolchildren are located adjacent to the surrounding residential neighbourhood.

The building for the children in years three to six is more complex and larger in scale, and is linked to the sports oval through a double-height traditional colonnade. To provide consistency across year-groups, each year classroom is grouped around a ‘piazza’ with shared outdoor learning facilities – again, part of the Reggio Emilia metaphor of the ‘village’ as a learning environment. The spaces actively encourage a culture of interaction and inquiry.

photos © Richard Glover

To underpin the school’s ambition for long-term construction materials which would weather with patina, Tzannes developed a strategy for the selection of materials, and details were developed accordingly. The organisation of the plan with open flowing spaces stimulates children to free expressive experiences and creative thinking.

Balconies and circulation routes are designed as casual social areas to encourage informal activities, participation and collaboration among students. The architecture supports the development of social skills and ‘student to student’ learning. Corridors, building technologies, interrelationships between rooms and piazzas, scale and proportion change between K–2 and 3–6 are all design contributions to learning and teaching.

photo © Richard Glover

photo © John Gollings

Cranbrook Junior School in Rose Bay, NSW – Building Information

Architecture: Tzannes – https://www.tzannes.com.au

Completion date: 2012
Location: Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Project Manager: Gallagher Jeffs
Town Planner: Planning Workshop Australia
Landscape Architect: ASPECT Studios
Structural, civil & stormwater engineering: Demlakian Consulting
Electrical engineering: Lighting Art & Science
Mechanical & esd Engineering: Cundall
Hydraulic engineer: Whipps Wood Consulting Pty Ltd,
Quantity surveyor: Page Kirkland

Building engineer: Dix Gardner Group,

Traffic engineer: Colston Budd Rogers & Kafes,
Geotechnical engineering: Jeffrey and Katauskas

Photography © John Gollings, Simon Wood and Simon Glover

Cranbrook Junior School, Rose Bay, New South Wales images / information received 190825

Location: Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia