...but why do this?

Our vision statement:

Eclipse believes a systemisation of methodology is better that a system of output.

It allows for bespoke design to be achieved in an efficient process, developing uniformity across the state’s schooling infrastructure.

We do this by beginning with a singular set of pedagogical principles that are tailored to a site through the analysis of a community and site. This analysis is driven by the development of a knowledge-sharing platform around designing for education, capable of short-circuiting the existing patterns of pre- and post- occupancy feedback.

Our Manifesto:

community

to grow students who self-direct, and seek out opportunities for collaboration.

We want the

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guided learning

self-directed learning

guided socialisation

So let's talk tangible goals...

and tangible measurements

Educational Ethos

Shift the focus from minimum deliverables, and form fresh connections.

The existing paradigms of the NSW state infrastructure do not reflect the developing pedagogical discourse, failing to accommodate the skills of self development that are required within the contemporary world. The use of a construction template as a way of shaping an education space limits the range of achievable learning experiences, creating fewer opportunities for individual and emerging pedagogies.

Forming fresh connections is paramount to Eclipse, and to achieve this we have focused on 4 key modes of connections to establish more meaningful and deeper learning experiences;

Public and private connection through physical infrastructure
Student and teacher connection through physical infrastructure
Modes of learning, Individual and Collaborative spaces
Social connections to community

These desired connections shape our approach to an educational progression through Pre-K, Primary and High School. As a student progresses through the years they will interact with the community as they learn through cycles of guided socialisation, guided learning, and self directed learning. The goal of this process is to create ‘self directed collaborators,’ who seek out opportunities to work with others in their community.

Eclipse believes that an educational approach that can achieve this is not another template, but rather a system that will allow for common objectives to be achieved across the state with more community focused outputs. A standardised set of guiding principles and a platform for the sharing of spatial patterns will facilitate a more community driven design development phase, creating meaningful design decisions with a kit of parts that uniquely fit a community’s requirements.

We want to remove the minimum standard and establish maximum aspirations, inspiring educators to look to the future and understand how new learning environments can assist in their pedagogies.

Objectives
Long life cycle schools are maintained by local communities, for local communities.

In engaging community, architects, school specialists, teachers and students design begin to cater to modern pedagogies, making way for pedagogical shifts for the future. We seek to achieve this with road objectives that this platform approach hopes to promote the following:

To create the longest possible building life cycle. This necessitates that all designs must allow for ease of adaptability or renovation to facilitate new pedagogies. Flexible classroom layouts and sustainable planning of materials and technology infrastructure can facilitate this.
To introduce infrastructure that maximises the use of school facilities through shared joint-use spaces.
To create bespoke designs that are tailored to specific schools and communities.
To create truly innovative and inspiring learning environments, we must adopt a new approach to school design that challenges traditional thinking and embraces collaboration, connectivity and innovation.

What to Expect From This

The platform acts as a database that will continue to grow and enrich each time it is applied to a new program.

A commitment to ongoing engagement from all stakeholders will allow the process to flourish. This is because the success of a tailored approach is dependent on the government and local communities’ future social and financial reinvestment into the future of a school and its students.

The template should not be of what to design but rather how to design. No two schools will look the same but will be designed using the same methodology, similarity in co-location of program or outputs would depend on user feedback both pre and post occupancy.

Given the unique needs, expectations, and site conditions of each school and local community, a standardised template for school design is unlikely to be effective in all contexts. Instead, a standardised design process can be used to ensure that the needs of both the school community and the surrounding community are met. This approach involves considering factors such as location, available resources, and the preferences and priorities of local stakeholders. By prioritising a collaborative approach to school design that is tailored to the specific needs of each context, we can create learning environments that truly reflect and serve the unique needs of the community.

The platform must support both transparency and accountability as a pre- and post- occupancy feedback mechanism. This means it needs to exist as an openly viewable website rather than an app, but require a login to provide feedback to avoid mass manipulation by students or uninvolved members of the public.

What are our priorities?

What learning experiences do we need to create?

What does the architecture need to achieve?

Positive and extensive community engagement in the school over an extended period of time.
Learners of the future armed with highly adaptable skill sets.
Adaptable architecture which stretches to accommodate different pedagogies.
Commitment to promoting self-guided learning.
Collaborative and engaged learners.
Students feeling a level of comfort with socialisation both in and outside of a school setting.

The relationship must be mutually beneficial for all stakeholders. The relationship between the community, site, student, teachers and their interactions are paramount for this methodology to work, requiring constant feedback. This must occur before, during, immediately after and long after the design process.

The learning experience of the individual is one that is both self-directed and guided, and is perpetually intertwined with the community.
Individual learners guide their own learning through collaboration with peers and professionals.
Individual learners are guided in their socialisation challenges, but have the comfort to escape to their own nested spaces.
The learner is one that is comfortable within their environment, and is constantly learning through their surrounding environment.

The interior and exterior environment must encourage learning at all levels. They must keep learners engaged and motivated, with the learning environment itself acting as a teacher.
Majority of the school environment must be accessible unless a particularly area or service is deemed unattainable / unnecessary.
The architecture must be designed to embrace and support various learning modes. This means creating flexible spaces that can be easily adapted to different teachintg and learning styles, as well as incorporating features such as natural light, acoustics, and ventilation that support engagement and creativity.

Our approach to sustainability...

This platform operates on the presumption that the entire cradle-to-grave-to-cradle life cycle of building materials should be considered, and that the extension of a reasonably low energy consumption use phase will prevent the large emissions lumps that occur during initial construction and demolition.

The existing governmental structures supporting the business of architecture for education mistakenly sacrifice community engagement for ease of top-down asset maintenance, and this means that the maintenance that extends a building’s life cycle is not tied to that community’s sense of ownership.

If the design process does not encourage people to be vocal for their school’s maintenance into the future, it relies on the generosity of a government on a 4 year election cycle which may spend according to political necessity rather than need.

produce

construct

end of service

use

Therefore a system other than a construction template for new buildings is needed if New South Wales' new schools are to avoid community neglect, early demolition, and rebuilding. A sustainable approach to rethinking the modular template should focus on extending the building life cycle of these public assets through targeting the community ownership of schools, rather than focusing on ease of government maintenance as a fleet of publicly owned assets.

The existing template attempts to extend the future life of new builds through ease of maintenance by using standardised wall modules and layouts. However, it fails to acknowledge that community ownership extends the life cycle of a building further, resilient in the face of politically fluctuating funding for public education. A community design collaboration platform achieves this.

An affordance-based perspective which emphasises the importance of aligning design with function can create architecture that aims to maximise its sustainable maintenance. In the context of educational settings, furniture plays a critical role in shaping the learning environment for students. Rather than being viewed as mere objects to fill a space, furniture should be recognised as a valuable tool that can enhance the educational experience by meeting the needs of both students and teachers.

Designing furniture that supports different learning modes, such as collaborative work, individual work, and presentations, is critical to creating a dynamic and adaptable learning environment. Incorporating sustainable design principles into the furniture selection process means educational institutions can contribute to a more sustainable future, while simultaneously improving the learning experience for students.

How should we measure school performance?

Imagine a student who dreamed of making it into NIDA, and after graduating gained entry into a highly sort-after section of AFTRS and has been happy there since.,

The student's marks don't tell a story there, their experience does. That's why we track student intentions, not marks.

Our metrics:

Retention rate of students through to year 12.
Tracking alignment between intended graduation pathway at the end of year 10 and graduation pathway taken in year 12. This alignment would not be literal but loosely instead track equivalent difficulty.
Tracking perceived happiness throughout primary and secondary education and comparing to other local schools. Teenage years can be emotionally difficult even in the best circumstances, so indexing against schools designed with traditional processes is a fair metric.

How do we measure the success of the platform?

We know it's working when we see

An increasing level of feedback engagement using the platform by parents within the catchment area
An increasing level of participation from architectural firms in submitting their design ideas.
New school projects using design ideas which were submitted to the platform by designers without active school projects. These could be architects from outside the education space, school students themselves, teachers unions or young designers. Public funds would be used as a reward for the use of their intellectual property.
Parent communities report higher levels of perceived transparency in the design and construction of new schools when compared to traditional school construction processes.

...and who governs this platform?

State Infrastructure New South Wales (SINSW) is ultimately responsible for the provision and maintenance of new school projects generated with this system. For the implementation of the platform website, SINSW contracts:

ArchDaily for the coordination and maintenance of the website’s technical functionality
Post- Publications for the graphic design of works documenting the platform’s implementation, marketing, and consequences
Eclipse Partners for strategy consultation, public representation, and potential implementation in other architectural sectors by government clients.

Pre- and post- occupancy feedback is carried out by architects working on the site, after receiving training from Eclipse Partners in its use. The schedule for this is determined by SINSW for each site, but is transparently displayed on the website. This ensures that its frequency is sufficient.