Renown Park Children’s Centre

With nature play a major focus, we proposed to carve a small strip from the edge of the school’s oval to generate enough space for indoor and outdoor activity. Our design solution included two reflected but skewed skillion roof forms, connected by a lower height bridging element. Together, they form an interrupted gable profile, where the lower height spine draws natural light into both wings while also housing the administrative offices, services and stores along the building’s centre.

Durability and economy were also found in simple materials: brick and timber, while heat controlled glass and high levels of insulation helped to achieve excellent environmental performance, amplified by solar and rainwater capture.

To encourage imaginative play and eco-literacy, the landscape is deliberately devoid of large-scale manufactured play equipment. Instead, there are native grasses for kids to hide amongst, a swale-like drain system, and natural texture to investigate in sawn log paving profiles, timber bridges, ropes and rock paths. A mud kitchen and sand pit with timber shade structure offer further tactile play zones, and there’s plenty of room for veggie beds, a pizza oven, resident chooks and a worm farm.