The STEM Building at Ipswich Grammar School provides staff, students and the school community with a contemporary STEM teaching and learning facility, whilst respectfully embracing the school’s long history by providing space and contrast against the state heritage listed Great Hall Precinct located adjacent.

Extensive consultation with the school community guided the project’s design development from locating the building as part of the Campus Master Plan, to the internal finishes and fit out of each space. As a result, the building’s internal layout supports the needs of students and staff by acting as a singular learning environment, encouraging student movement between presentation, collaboration, and experimentation spaces.

Bribie State High School’s new GLA (General Learning Area) and Music Building provides 14 classrooms over two storeys, including Music Rooms, Flexible Learning Areas, and a staff room.

The layout wraps around the existing buildings on campus to efficiently use the constrained site. Towill Design have broken the building into two portions allowing for collaborative outdoor learning areas to the centre. A combination of Colorbond metal cladding and CSR Barestone Cladding creates articulation to breakup the form while providing a durable finish. The cathedral like corridors with high glazing and operable louvers make the most of the fresh air and ample natural light. The open stairwells and corridors with stone look epoxy allow for a smooth transition between indoor and outdoor spaces suitable for its coastal location.

Currently in the preliminary design phase, the proposed Learning Centre at Grace Lutheran College’s Caboolture Campus is the first stage of building works identified within the Conceptual Master Plan.

The school’s rapidly growing population and need for highly flexible learning spaces resulted in a multi-tasking internal space which can cater for more than the traditional 30-student-per-class scenario. A wide range of teaching pedagogies, from small tutorial groups to multi-class lectures can be accommodated within this building through the strategic use of operable walls and flexible learning areas which blur the boundaries of the traditional classroom spaces.

The Performing Arts and Physical Education Centre was created in line with the Principal’s ethos of instilling creativity and sustainability in education and building design.

Completed in November 2016, this building represents the final stage in our eight year masterplan for St Paul’s School. The new construction was required to connect seamlessly with the existing gymnasium on site which was also refurbished as part of this project.

We were challenged to adapt as the brief changed from a sporting facility to a multi-purpose facility, combining a gymnasium, sporting and performing arts space.

We capitalised on the steep sloping site, which allowed extensive sport storage and drama classrooms to be placed on the lower side of the site, connecting directly to the sporting facilities below.

The building expresses all of its robust structure and to minimise environmental impact an external steel sandwich panel was applied to provide additional insulation and reduce the overall amount of steel required. The steel was bolted to allow for reuse at a later stage.

For the purpose of sporting activities the building can be opened to provide natural light and ventilation. To allow the space to be darkened for performances, an automated building management system was installed to sense and maintain an ambient temperature with minimal energy expenditure.

Towill Design was engaged by Stella Maris Catholic Primary School to undertake their masterplan. The administration and prep building represents stage one, incorporating two prep classrooms, amenities, staff facilities, reception and staff offices.

Integrating and delineating the building’s administration and learning areas was challenging on this tight, sloping site. To identify the prep classrooms as a separate entity we designed two perpendicular, gable-roofed structures extending from the northern side of the building’s main body to provide spaces of a more accommodating scale for prep students.

The building’s materiality was chosen to tie in with existing buildings and landscaping, including vegetable gardens and an amphitheatre to accommodate the sloping site. It was important to Stella Maris and Towill Design that the new building did not require air-conditioning. Correct orientation and large amounts of cross ventilation was therefore a crucial aspect of the building’s overall design.

Through a series of workshops with staff and students, we created this new school building to accommodate four classrooms and break-out spaces including art areas and amenities.

Included in the design is an undercroft to allow for a further four classrooms and flexible learning spaces in anticipation of future growth.

Caboolture Montessori’s ethos of connecting children with the environment was woven through our design, using recycled materials and natural components. The design blurs the lines between the external and internal teaching environments and maximises natural ventilation and solar orientation.

Automated elements allow the vertical shutters to purpose the verandah areas as protected, flexible teaching spaces and the façade to be manipulated to accommodate changing weather conditions.

The Sutton Building has been designed with a strong responsibility to the environment. It aims to reduce maintenance costs and energy use, but most importantly provides a safe environment for staff & students.

Extensive workshopping with staff & students was completed to challenge teaching styles, creating a diverse range of learning areas including ten classrooms, a small lecture theatre, break out learning zones, staff rooms, a hospitality teaching space and café with an external seating space.

Towill Design’s  sustainable approach to design is evident through the selection of materials for their life cycle, maintenance and thermal comfort benefits. Additionally, the practice of dematerialisation and inclusion of a Building Management System has resulted in a building which visually and physically represents Towill Design’s and the clients commitment to the environment.

The school blazer inspired the strong colour theme throughout the building. The red, yellow and green sprinkled through the brickwork, joinery, carpet & walls, combined with the exposed materials including bricks, painted steel, plywood & polished concrete provide a rich palette of colour and texture for the students and staff to enjoy.

The brief required the design of the kindergarten facility to embrace the schools chosen approach to early learning, Reggio Emilia. In this philosophy, the physical environment actively participates as part of the educational process for the children, often being referred to as ‘the third teacher’.

The interiors have a direct relationship with the natural environment through large sliding doors onto the deck. This covered connection provides a flexible play space between outdoors and indoors – allowing children to learn from & interact with nature whist under full teacher supervision.

The kindergarten has been designed with a variety of heightened spaces, forms, light, colours & textures including a collection of recycled & natural materials.

The internal layout is flexible in it’s design for areas of play, learning & social interaction, with walls used to document children’s words, photos and drawings.

Ironside State School engaged us to design a three storey building incorporating ten general learning area rooms, breakout spaces and an open undercroft for covered play, with the potential for additional classrooms to be constructed in the future.

The site selected presented many challenges to overcome, including a steep slope and an immediate adjacency to the school’s heritage listed administration building.

Sustainable design was a core initiative of the new building with a clerestory roof above the corridor designed to fill the internal spaces with natural light and encourage natural stack ventilation. The materiality and form of the building was selected to be sympathetic to the neighbouring heritage building, retaining views from the east.

Some of the building’s key features include brick wall ends with a push-pull brickwork patterning and metal screening reflecting the landscape with images of leaves from the surrounding eucalyptus trees.

The form and orientation of the Junior Library building responds to the built and natural features of the site and the environmental issues of aspect, cross ventilation and natural light penetration were integral to the design.

The new Junior Library at St Paul’s School completed the learning and research precinct we designed for the school. The use of colour and light engages the student’s imagination, resulting in the library becoming a favourite space within the junior school campus.

Central skylights provide light and natural ventilation controlled by an autonomous Building Management System. Low energy lighting and extensive sun shading reduce heat load and a water harvesting system is used for toilet flushing and irrigation.

The Junior Library is a welcoming, inspiring space designed without unnecessary consumption of materials and with the careful selection of non-toxic materials to promote a healthy learning and teaching environment for students and staff.

As with all projects undertaken by Towill Design, the Frost Junior Learning Building incorporates a variety of sustainable design principles with the aim of reducing our environmental impact and providing naturally comfortable spaces for teaching and learning.

The Frost Junior Learning building consists of two classroom ‘pods’ connected by a breezeway outdoor learning area.

Passive thermal control is provided to the classrooms through reverse veneer wall construction which helps stabilise fluctuations in temperatures, efficient cross ventilation and the inclusion of a Building Management System. The spaces have access to ample day lighting through a range windows placed at varying heights including clerestory level and sitting height. All artificial lighting is low energy and extensive sun shading has been incorporated to reduce heat load.

This project was a refurbishment and extension of a 30 year old workshop building to create a modern Design Technology facility which includes design labs, workshops, mechanically ventilated machine rooms, welding bays, spray painting booth and staff offices.

Continual client and user involvement undertaken throughout this project ensured the refurbishment would result in a highly interactive learning centre appropriate for the current Design Technology curriculum.

A sustainable approach was essential to this refurbishment project, proving that upgrading existing building stock can provide an environmentally sensitive alternative to new construction.

• Extensive effort and planning was made to retain the original building materials to limit new material consumption.
• The walls and roofs of new and refurbished sections included the retrofitting of high levels of insulation to slow the transfer of heat and cold.
• The classrooms refurbished in the existing building use mechanical cooling operated on 1 hour timers and set at 26 degrees. The workshops are ventilated through a mechanically driven natural ventilation system well suited to these larger spaces.

The refurbishment of the Giese Senior School Library at St Paul’s School caters for the collaborative learning style of 21st Century students.

The project involved the creation of two new IT labs, refurbishment of existing space, a new entry and an updated facade. Working closely with the students and staff, we designed a cost effective re­furbishment with an exciting result for this much loved library.

An array of different learning spaces across the library can be adapted to suit both group activities and quiet, independent learning.

The floor plan has been carefully designed to support librarians and teachers in their observation and engagement with students across both digital and physical learning landscapes.

The Giese Senor Library is at the heart of St Paul’s Senior School. The atmosphere is stimulating and inviting and the flexible learning spaces promote creative, collaborative approaches to thinking and learning.

This 1970’s construction was refurbished to become The Wellbeing Centre accommodating student support services and key staff offices to create a central hub for student welfare.

The existing science labs had not been updated since the early 1970’s therefore the opportunity to salvage materials from the existing fit out was limited. The project team tried to reduce the removal and addition of materials while focusing on repairing selected areas to maintain a limited budget.

The southern facade of the building was removed and replaced with full height glazing to allow maximum natural light and all materials were assessed based on their environmental performance including the use of glues and adhesives.

The refurbishment of an existing 25 year old lecture created a valued teaching and presentation space.

The original space was rarely used due to its limited seating numbers, lack of lighting control and poor acoustics. Through careful planning and briefing an efficient and modern outcome achieved including the doubling of seating numbers, installation of low energy lighting, updating of IT system and application of acoustic treatment.

Every effort was made to reduce unnecessary consumption of materials and to carefully monitor the use of harmful materials which maybe of danger to growing children.

The project budget was limited therefore extensive planning and assessment was implemented during every phase of the project to ensure the client’s expectations were met.

The original 1850’s homestead was refurbished to expand the schools’ museum and archives to protect and celebrate the school’s rich history.

The refurbishment required extensive planning to accommodate staff offices within a controlled museum environment. A balance was met between the protection of historical artefacts, encouragement of frequent public access and staff usage through the continual involvement of the school archivist and end users.

The homestead had seen many alterations over its lifetime and careful attention was paid to retain and expose many original features, whilst creating a working space that can perform in the 21st Century.