Papamoa College

Education

31 Dec

Papamoa College in Tauranga is a landmark educational design in New Zealand.

As well as being the country's first full secondary school where the 'learning commons' approach to school design is used, it received the highest GreenStar rating of any public secondary school when it opened in February 2011.

We designed the school on the principles of 'enquiry based learning' with a series of large open studios, or learning commons, each with 100 students and six teachers. Specialist spaces are also provided but designed to be used by small groups only when needed.

The approach is used internationally with great success, as reported by the OECD, and has been found to be more closely aligned to the real world, making learning more authentic and engaging for students.

Location
Papamoa

Date Completed
2011

Client
Ministry of Education

Team
John Sofo, Matt Every

Photography
Simon Devitt

Awards

NZIOB NZ Supreme Award - 2011
NZIOB NZ Sustainability Award - 2011
Master Builders Supreme Award, Waikato BOP - 2011
Master Builders Commercial Gold Award, Waikato BOP - 2011
Master Builders Education Award National Winner - 2011
NZIA BOP Sustainability Award - 2011
NZ Best Design Awards Finalist - 2011
NZIA BOP Public Architecture Award - 2011
Property Council Education and Arts Merit Award - 2012

Sustainable initiatives in the building include balanced daylight, effective natural ventilation and the specification of sustainable materials in the construction of all aspects of the school. Students can monitor and study building performance indicators such as insulation levels, energy usage, rainfall collection and reuse, ventilation levels, natural light levels and more.

The Ministry of Education has been visionary in supporting this kind of change in education in New Zealand and we have been privileged to have been entrusted with the innovative and ground breaking design work that this project deserved.

We are particularly proud of Papamoa's GreenStar rating of 5, signifying New Zealand Excellence in sustainability. There is only one higher category: World Leadership.