Picnic Point High School New South Wales, PPHS Building, NSW Education Architecture, City of Canterbury-Bankstown

Picnic Point High School Building Design

23 Apr 2021

Picnic Point High School Building News

Design: Hames Sharley Architects

Location: Picnic Point, City of Canterbury-Bankstown, 23 kilometres south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Picnic Point High School Redevelopment

Picnic Point High School (PPHS) is a government high school located in the Picnic Point, New South Wales suburb. The redevelopment project, which involves the refurbishment of some existing buildings and the construction of a new learning facility, responds to the expansion of the school’s catchment to provide the East Hill’s and Picnic Point communities more choices for co-education.

image courtesy of Hames Sharley Architects Australia

A master planning process comprised of a thorough site analysis, site testing, a staging strategy, and the establishment of key design principles determined a site to the south east of the school grounds for the new building.

The existing PPHS Buildings are all oriented north south on their long axes, with east and west exposure resulting in unwanted heat load and glare. The decision was therefore made to orient the new (Technical and Applied Sciences) TAS building to north, with access walkways off the north façade, all in keeping with School Infrastructure’s Design for Modular Assembly (DfMA) Guidelines. The location chosen for the building ensures surveillance over the east part of the school grounds, until now ‘out-of-bounds’ to students, thus opening the grounds for use at recess for activity and recreation.

Two high-value Angophora trees and a Scribbly Gum are situated just north of the building, providing a shaded setting for an outdoor learning space, and with generous tree canopy around the site, creates a micro-climate for the building’s immediate context.

TAS Unit wood and metal workshop units are located on the ground floor, with an acoustically insulated Music Unit, and Visual Arts Unit accommodated on the first floor. The steep fall of the site made possible an under-croft providing additional storage/workshop space and a kiln for the arts unit.

The development is located just north of the Georges River National Park, the George’s River is the traditional boundary between the Dharawal People to the south and the Dharug to the north. The proposed colour, material palette, and façade concept is informed through observations of the Georges River National Park context and arranged rhythmically according to the major scale in reference to the building’s hosting of the Music Unit.

A Dharug piece of music is interpreted architecturally and adds relief and interest to the north walkway elevation’s vertical screening. The building, with its landscape inspired facade, is supported by its landscape setting, which also draws reference from the George’s River National Park and connections to Dharug country.

The redevelopment of PPHS is essential to the future learning needs of its students and supports growth in the local economy.

Picnic Point High School NSW – Building Information

The brief:
• School Masterplan
• 3 new general learning spaces
• Upgrade and expansion of administration and staff facilities
• new Technical and Applied Sciences (TAS) unit to replace existing
• relocation of the Visual Arts and Music Units to meet additional capacity for 2031.

Client: School Infrastructure New South Wales (SINSW)

Location: Picnic Point, NSW

Services: Architecture

Key features:
• four new general learning spaces
• new TAS workshops and new TAS learning spaces
• new Visual Arts workshop and new Visual Arts learning spaces
• new Music learning spaces
• new computer learning space
• upgraded and expanded Administration and Staff facilities
• landscaping and external improvements.

Status: Masterplan & Concept Stages

Year: 2020 – 2021

Design team:
• Project Lead – Dustin Brade
• Design Lead – Iain Stewart
• Design – Oliver Wellings
• Design – James Vongphrachanh

Collaborators:
• AECOM: Structural, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, ICT & Hydraulic Engineering
• Arcadia: Landscape Architects
• Philip Chun, Building Compliance: BCA Consultant
• HKA: Project Managers

Hames Sharley Architects

Picnic Point High School New South Wales images / information received 220421 from Hames Sharley Architects

Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Architecture in Sydney

Sydney Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:

Sydney Houses – a selection of the best contemporary properties in this New South Wales city.

Sydney Architecture

Sydney Central Station Development, Henry Deane Plaza, Central Business District
Design: SOM and Fender Katsalidis

image © SOM | Fender Katsalidis
Sydney Central Station Development
The design by SOM and Fender Katsalidis is set to transform the western edge of Central Station. New commercial buildings and public realm improvements will enhance this southern gateway to the CBD, revitalizing and reconnecting the precinct to the city.

Pitt Street OSD and metro station, corner of Park & Pitt streets
Design: Foster + Partners

image © Foster + Partners
Pitt Street Over Station Development
The building is located immediately above the northern entrance to Pitt Street Station, a crucial hub for the new Sydney Metro. The north station entrance plaza naturally fronts onto the tree lined Park Street which is one of the most prominent east-west cross-streets in Sydney.

NSW Properties

Twin Houses
Architects: Architecture Saville Isaacs

photo : Kata Bayer
Twin Houses in Sydney
Responding to the irregular site boundary and contextual differences, the houses take on different yet complementary forms. No.2 presents a street façade of sensually curved brick mass with window penetrations.

Garden House
Architects: James Design Studio

photograph : Simon Whitbread
Garden House in New South Wales
Garden House is a new house in the upper north shore using vernacular forms and gables defined by differing materials with a link in the middle giving a glimpse of what lies beyond while providing a framework for privacy.