Pymble Ladies' College
Secondary Innovation Precinct Design Competition
Secondary Innovation Precinct Design Competition
Pymble Ladies' College
Secondary Innovation Precinct Design Competition
Client:
Pymble Ladies' College
Location:
Pymble, New South Wales
Scale:
8150 sqm
Status:
Completed 2024 (Design Competition)
Contact Person:
Alan J Duffy
Pymble Ladies’ College is fostering a new generation of young women equipped to tackle this century’s problems, from climate resilience to technological disruption. The Secondary Innovation Precinct was conceived as a living laboratory for STEM, where students cultivate the skills, mindset and ambition to shape a more sustainable future.
In 2024, Architectus, in collaboration with Yerrabingin, progressed to the final stage of a design competition for the Secondary Innovation Precinct.
A living laboratory
Our design reimagines the campus topography as a series of platforms for learning, a new learning landscape inspired by nature, the great teacher. The building creates a highly visible and sustainable showcase for STEM, making learning and experimentation part of the everyday campus experience.
Containing general learning spaces, specialist STEM environments, an informal dining area and senior study zones, the building can adapt to host school exhibitions, events and examinations.
Connected, collaborative learning
Flexible, digitally enabled learning environments are interwoven with generous formal and informal zones, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and project-based learning.
Clear vertical connections support serendipitous encounters between students and staff, fostering a culture of cross-year mentoring and peer-to-peer learning.
Anchored in history and Country
Extending and amplifying the existing school colonnade, the proposal complements the College’s architectural heritage. It abstracts the original 1916 foundation buildings in expression and proportion to create a new face for the campus.
Acknowledging that the College sits on Guringai Country, our education team worked with Yerrabingin to co-create a design that is deeply rooted in place. The sandstone-rich Sydney Basin geology and proximity to Sheldon Forest shape both the philosophical framework and environmental performance of the building, with First Nations stories and experience embedded in the design narrative.
A sustainable home for STEM
Embodying the future-focused learning happening inside, the building’s mass timber structure, with Glulam beams and CLT slabs, exemplifies sustainable engineering. This structure not only minimises the building’s embodied carbon but also expedites constructability through off-site fabrication, reducing disturbance on site.
A tactile, biophilic interior connects students to nature and the broader ecological context of the site. Abundant daylight, framed views to landscape and a robust, warm, well-crafted material palette make the Innovation Precinct a healthy, inviting place to study and work.
Designed with passive thermal principles, the building can adapt to Sydney’s temperate climate. Large bi-fold doors open to create cross ventilation, while the central atrium draws warm air up and out of the building.
Rooftop rainwater collection, planting and PV panels complement the design’s sustainable vision.
A new green heart for the campus
The Innovation Precinct is a key catalyst for a future green heart at the centre of the College, unlocking new landscape, gathering and learning opportunities.
With direct connections to landscape on multiple floors, the building embraces its bushland context.
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Client:
Pymble Ladies' College
Location:
Pymble, New South Wales
Scale:
8150 sqm
Status:
Completed 2024 (Design Competition)
Contact Person:
Alan J Duffy
