Category Archives: Projects

Roma Mitchell Secondary College

Project location:
Gepps Cross, Adelaide

Client:
SA Government

Year of completion:
2011

Project cost/budget:
$70M

Project description:
Thomson Rossi were a key team member of the Pinnacle Education consortium that delivered the Education Works New Schools Projects PPP, commonly referred to as the ‘Super Schools’.

As the largest of the proposed schools, Roma Mitchell Secondary College contains cutting edge facilities and environments that explore the ideal of “schools within schools”, which essentially creates a campus of ‘sub-schools’ to reinforce identity and individuality for the students. These new learning environments allow middle and senior year students to develop and articulate goals for their future learning and employment pathways.

The campus accommodates 1300 students across Co-educational and Girls Only Middle and Senior Years, common shared facilities, Early Years B-8 and a Special School. A unique feature of the campus is the integration of a 100 student Special School, allowing students with disabilities to participate in a broad, balanced curriculum. In this environment, students become the centre of a range of complimentary, integrated and co-ordinated services that are also supported by staff, family/carers, advocates and specialised support agencies.

St Joseph’s School Hindmarsh

Project location:
Hindmarsh, Adelaide

Client:
Catholic Education SA

Year of completion:
2003-2011

Project cost/budget:
$3.8M (all stages)

Project description:
Thomson Rossi completed a new strategic Master Plan for St Joseph’s School, catering for a projected enrolment of 360 students across P – 7. A key issue with this project centred on the desire to maximise open grassed play space, and hence generate new building solutions that provide “more space on less land.”

Stage 1 provided a solution of elevated general learning areas which simultaneously created an undercover play area and provided the school with a high level of community exposure. The overall plan also includes an exciting initiative to include a multi-purpose hall for Parish/community functions, eventually creating an environment with an extremely high level of social and religious interaction.

Through further refinement of the original Master Plan, Stage 2 provided new Administration facilities closely linked to new Parish accommodation located within a State Heritage Listed building. A new multi-purpose Activity Hall completed Stage 3.

Adelaide West Special Education Centre

Project location:
Taperoo, Adelaide

Client:
SA Government

Year of completion:
2010

Project cost/budget:
$11.5M

Project description:
The Adelaide West Special Education Centre is a new 80 place Special School designed to accommodate the needs of children with significant physical and intellectual disability. Typically, these children are all confined to beds or wheelchairs, have sensory impairment and two-thirds of the students are non-verbal.

Delivered as part of the State government’s Education Works Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, the new school takes advantage of adjacency to Ocean View High School to engender social inclusion for these children and hence develop their sense of self as a member of the wider community.

An Activity Hall and Administration wing support a series of flexible Learning Areas that have an intimate relationship with external sensory gardens. As briefed, it is essential that every activity becomes a learning opportunity, allowing each student’s horizons to expand. This requirement was translated to a plan that provided an outlook to stimulating spaces and environments along every route taken by students.

Other design features include a fully functional residential unit for training in living skills, observational bays for allied health consultants and overhead lifting tracks. Importantly, the new facility was designed to not invoke any links to an ‘institution’, but rather reflect the school’s vision of a clean, green and cutting edge place for learning.

Thomson Rossi provided full architectural services to our client in response to extensive briefing requirements provided by the State government acting on behalf of DECD. We were authors of the design and attended State Workshops with user groups to complete the design development of very specific student care issues. The project received a CEFPI Australasia Region Educational Facilities Commendation Award in 2011 in Category 1A New Construction: Entire New School.

Our Lady Queen of Peace School

Project location:
Albert Park, Adelaide

Client:
Catholic Education SA

Year of completion:
2003-2010

Project cost/budget:
$4.6M

Project description:
Our Lady Queen of Peace School engaged Thomson Rossi to develop a new Master Plan which would consolidate the positive community of the School. In order to collect all viewpoints in an effective manner, our team arranged a series of workshops with staff, SRC, School Board, Parish and parent/community members.

Stage 1 is a unique development of the idea that classrooms are not ‘boxes’ but in turn have a direct link to each other and the outside, hence the installation of folding stack glass doors to all learning spaces. Greater identity and an excellent learning environment are key outcomes.

Stage 2 created a new Administration building with refurbished library, while Stage 3 provided a new Activity Hall with Music suite.

The Heights Preschool

Project location:
Modbury, Adelaide

Client:
DECD

Year of completion:
2008

Project cost/budget:
$1.5M

Project description:
The Heights School P-12 provides a new, stand-alone Child/Parent facility for pre-school children on a large, established School site.

Our design focuses on providing on appropriate identity and scale to the proposed building with the articulation of roof forms and external building fabric.  Internal spaces are characterized by a sense of spaciousness, with operable clerestory windows providing an abundance of natural light and ventilation.  The use of innovative landscape design extends learning spaces into the external environment.

ESD initiatives are prevalent, including appropriate orientation for passive solar control, reverse block veneer construction, rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic cell solar energy and cross-ventilation.  Materials and finishes that are renewable and have low embodied energy/toxicity (such as plantation timber framing in lieu of steel, marmoleum flooring) have been used extensively.