Wenona School Undercroft
LOCATION
North Sydney, NSW
YEAR
2015
CLIENT
Wenona School
TEAM
Umbaco Landscape Architects
Wenona School Undercroft
Following our successful design involvement with new “Woodstock” Junior School courtyards, Umbaco were engaged by Wenona School to introduce its senior students to the world of design and consultative processes by facilitating a series of interactive workshops leading to the design of their under-croft area. At the same time as providing the students with a crash course in landscape architecture and design processes and techniques, we learned how the students used the existing under croft, how they would like to use it and what their main priorities would be. The students had age appropriate responses such as to be “not like school”, to be “zen”, and to be contemporary yet sustainable, to which we responded with our design concepts (pictured left).
There was an emphasis on adding a lot of green where possible in keeping the under-croft space as an important communal space used by different groups at different times of the day. Flexibility of space arrangement was important so that it could allow, say for a drama practice during the day but also a dance party or parents night at night. The introduction of soft artificial surfacing, warm timber decking and movable furniture were all direct results of our consultations with the students and the staff.
