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Gipson says the new building is designed to create and
encourage the transformational learning experience:
“The most memorable moment was on the very first day it
opened and I came up to the top floor where a group of
year 12s were sitting over the cantilever on the top floor.
They were all focused on studying and it was as if they had
been there for 100 years in a sense, as if they were always
meant to be there and at that moment I knew we had
achieved what we had set out to.
We wanted to create a sense of connection to the outside
environment which is often lacking in classrooms. One of
the great design features of this building is the Green wall
that faces Redan Street. When that’s fully grown, the ability
to sit in the building and look out to the streetscape through
this wonderful vine and will provide students with the
experience of not being closeted but connected.
Science and domestic science classrooms
on the south are notable as exemplars of
flowing space and requiring little if any
artificial lighting.