Fitzroy High School

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: This project is an addition to Fitzroy High School to provide a 3-storey facility for Years 11 and 12, providing for additional 225 students and 12 staff. It has developed a curriculum and approach structured around the arts and pioneered new teaching methods of team and collaborative teaching, and project-based learning. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: MCR has created a 'new school model' that simultaneously accommodates and expresses the requirements and aspirations of a 21st century school. Rather than sticking with conventional classrooms, classrooms are imagined as peninsulas: each space has a focal point from which the entire class can be supervised, with the extremities of the spaces designed for project-based learning. The main floor features a flexible open foyer that accommodates large gatherings and serves as an open concept classroom designed for team teaching. The building features an undulating wall of masonry which provides structural advantages and helps with light and air circulation. MCR's design gives the school a prominent aspect to the street through a dynamic relationship with existing features such as the mature fig tree and an exuberant expression of the aspirations of the school and its community. This work demonstrates MCR's history of designing educational buildings that are richly expressive and which has - over the past twelve years - questioned how architecture could spark conversation, create a unique identity for a school and provide an inspiring, reputation-building public front that connects with the community and broader context. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The project received prestigious awards: the 2011 Education Sector award by World Architecture News (WAN); and the 2011 International Architecture Award by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the Chicago Athenaeum. It has been extensively published in professional architecture and design media outlets.