It’s not just the students who are loving the facilities at The Hester Hornbrook Academy’s Sunshine campus.
Australian architecture and design practice Gray Puksand, which designed the school, has been shortlisted in the Australian Interior Design Awards’ workplace design category for showing how specialist designed schools can embody design excellence to create an uplifting learning environment for all students.
The school was completed earlier this year, creating a contemporary learning space engaging students through an important sense of place and purpose while embracing the academy’s values of community and belonging.
The campus features a series of adjoining communal study space,s facilitating meetings, creativity, dining and staff-student collaboration.
Gray Puksand partner Mark Freeman said they aimed to create a sense of openness and freedom at the academy, where the students could feel safe and inspired to truly be themselves.
Academy principal Sally Lasslett said many students had said the academy really feels like home.
“It’s certainly not your standard flexi-school with all the boring, standard finishes. It’s a beautiful space that our staff and students look forward to interacting with,” she said.
“We’ve noticed our attendance levels are higher than they’ve ever been before on any of our campuses since the building opened. A big part of that is the building itself, and also the programs we can run inside it.”
The design also celebrated the Sunshine community.
