Green Square Public School & Community Spaces has been designed for use by the entire community. It’s located at the centre of the Green Square urban renewal precinct, surrounded by high-density residential projects, new public buildings and green spaces. In this burgeoning part of the city fringe, the school will forge its own identity whilst integrating into a site rich with promise.

Though Green Square is on track to be the most densely populated urban area in Australia, sustainability is at the forefront of our design. We want to embed sustainable ways of thinking in the hearts and minds of the students.

A unique typology

BVN’s winning design for the 2019 Design Excellence Competition was based on an ambitious vision for the Green Square project as more than a school: a new kind of educational neighbourhood. A design that redefines what an urban school can be and how it can contribute to the broader community.

This design balances the complex requirements of buildings in public and private spheres, negotiating security, openness, history, context, scale, character and identity. It has to be both safe and welcoming. Both intimate and playful. To do this, it must be flexible.

The new neighbourhood will encourage people to interact differently by incorporating mixed-use, community and education facilities. It contributes to the community, a genuinely public building that extends beyond conventional school hours. Pedestrians can walk through the site throughout the day, and children can stay back to play or return later in the day, as they would to a local park or public playground. It will remain open until 11:00 pm, 7 days a week.

The school provides a games court on the corner of the site facing a new village green that is accessible to the community. In the original brief, this was located on the roof and was strictly for school use. We saw the potential to be a better community resource and relocated it to the ground plane where it can be shared.

Contemporary, but with nods to history

The building ties into the surrounding heritage precinct, with strong, simple lines and forms defining the site edge. The materials and colour palette, including closely matched brick and colour schemes, reinforce the utilitarian character of the surrounding historic buildings while offering a contemporary feel.

A brick terracotta screen wraps around the school, connecting it with its context and providing protection, privacy and shade. Conventional brickmaking is energy-intensive, but this particular screen is fired using biogas collected from Sydney’s landfills. This mitigates the embodied carbon and puts the school’s sustainability credentials on full display.

Solar power

Using photo voltaic cells on the roof reinforces the sustainability agenda, acting as a shade structure for play whilst producing energy. Embedded into the building are informational digital displays turning the facade into an educational tool and allowing the students to see energy generated in real-time.

Not just a school but a neighbourhood

The Green Square project sets a new standard for contemporary schools in urban settings. It facilitates emerging and future-focused teaching technologies and pedagogies. And it’s designed for inevitable growth and change over time. With its sustainability mechanics on display, it’s a “building as teacher” that makes its environmental features overt and educational. By offering shared resources to the community, it invites participation far beyond traditional school models.