Community interaction, the experience of landscape and nature, and innovative flexible learning environments all combine to inform the design for the Ultimo-Pyrmont Public School.
Located on a steeply sloping site in a highly urbanised inner suburb of Sydney, this proposal maximises the available landscape by freeing up the ground plane for a diversity of activities, ranging from outdoor play, learning, quiet space and community gathering in a variety of covered and uncovered environments. Echoing the dramatically scraped landforms of Pyrmont and Ultimo and its history of quarrying Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, the ground plane is articulated in a series of tiered landscapes of diverse scale with a combination of soft and hard features, encouraging occupants to engage in learning and play and even just to linger in the presence of nature.
This proposal offers the Ultimo-Pyrmont community a 21st-Century city primary school, responding directly to the school’s aspirations, articulated as Leading Edge, Nature, The Vibe, and Connection. This is a truly new learning environment, a place of both refuge and connection that is relevant, contemporary and inspiring.
