The Scots College Thistlewood ELC
LOCATION
Bellevue Hill, NSW
YEAR
2022
CLIENT
The Scots College
TEAM
Umbaco Landscape Architects | Photography: Andrew Vincent
The Scots College Thistlewood
The Scots College Early Learning Centre playspace was officially opened on a wintery July day in 2022. The drab grey of the day was in marked contrast to the vibrant blue and yellow school livery of the new playspace and the enthusiasm of the school’s young students.
Our brief was to design a playspace for kindergarten and year 1 students, and a separate but connected playspace for the 4-year-old “Lions”. The school sought an environment consistent with the Reggio Emilia philosophy of early childhood learning where that environment, often referred to as ‘the third teacher’, is one that is open and free-flowing, and enables uninterrupted exploration, play and learning; where the outdoor spaces are valued just as highly as formal classrooms; and where the children have free access to stimulating resources that are natural and potentially “edgy” and “dirty”, and where breaking the rules is the rule!
To do this we created the playspace for the older students around a multi-level “treehouse” nestled in nature play. For the treehouse, we blended a natural chunky timber ‘totem pole’ look with contemporary steel finishes, rope bridge and nets, and a see-through climbing wall which keeps the structure light, and airy and allows visibility through the structure below. The nature play was built around a sand pit using sandstone blocks and rocks with a meandering billabong. A bridge over the billabong creates a short-cut to the Japanese stairs to hop over. The various elements are connected by stone crazy paving. A softly shaped, terraced timber deck serves as an outdoor classroom area and lunch seating. Landscaping with a fire pit terrace and woven bird’s nest hidden amongst lush planting create more intimate exploratory space.
For the “Lions” we created a smaller sibling treehouse activity centre with a sandpit below. Many different forms of climbing happen here offering various levels of challenges. This activity are is complemented by a quiet space around garden perimeter with a woven igloo-like bird’s nest, and the serene gaze of the beautiful sandstone carving of the school’s lion mascot. A row of much needed custom-made storage cupboards border the boundary. A selection of sub-tropical plantings and fragrant shrubs complete this playspace.
Despite the outdoor space being limited we managed to fit in almost all of the staff’s wishlist with careful spatial planning. While a number of play nodes are linked through different underfoot materials they are ‘separate’ enough to use for hiding or reflection. The vibrant blue and yellow school colours help create an eye-catching sensory experience for the children to enhance their play.
While the two age groups are physically separate, they are connected through a sensory fence with a variety of interactive elements accessible from both sides, chalkboards, and multi-coloured transparent window panels which allow the boys to see through to the other side. The result is a visually interesting and functional interactive feature.
We were supported in this project by the school’s enthusiastic and committed management team and look forward to continuing our work with The Scots College to bring more of our concepts into reality.
