Xavier College Kostka Building by MGS Architects | 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards

Описание: Xavier College Kostka Building by MGS Architects | 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards

Educational Architecture

Wurundjeri

Xavier College’s Kostka Building was identified as a key project in MGS Architects’ 2020 Master Plan, enabling the relocation of the College’s years 7 and 8 student cohort from its Brighton and Studley Park campuses to its Senior Campus in Kew.

The result of an extensive, collaborative process, Kostka accommodates the specific pedagogical and wellbeing requirements of younger students as they transition to high school, while sparking curiosity and creativity in a welcoming, home-like environment. The building is a nurturing teacher, layered with meaning, learning opportunities and spaces that support connection and belonging.

A multistorey, activated learning street navigates the steep topography, connecting four learning neighbourhoods, each one consisting of five classrooms accessed via a shared breakout space. Two neighbourhoods are provided for each year group, vertically stacked to encourage cross-pollination between the different year levels. Neighbourhood-connecting stairs puncture the south elevation, acting as markers for each year level. The learning street is anchored by radial, faceted gathering spaces - a middle years library flanked by a specialist hub cradled in the hillside at the east, and a small chapel marking the western entry.

Programmatic expression drives the architecture. Blue-brown brick forms erupt from the terrain, fragmented to create an inhabitable façade. These solid shapes shift to offer connection and retreat, opening to views and closing to create moments of refuge, their mass amplified by high-performance glazing showcasing activities within the building to adjacent spaces and connecting students with the historic Chapel, ovals, and city beyond. The north, east and west façades are restrained, with louvres mediating the building’s relationship with its neighbours, while providing sun shading.

The mass timber structure is exposed internally, complemented by acoustic timber paneling. Mass timber was selected not only for speed of construction and low carbon footprint, but also for the positive impact it has on student wellbeing and learning outcomes. Further reinforcing wellbeing, landscape and building are intertwined, with the uppermost deck a sensory garden overlooking the city and the library topped by a learning lawn.

Echoes of the College’s recently-closed Brighton Campus resonate through the design. The circular shape of the Chapel reflects its modernist predecessor, crowned with the well-known Alan Sumner-designed stained glass, relocated from that space, while an oak sapling, seeded from the Brighton Campus’s famous oak tree, has been planted as the focal point of the library courtyard.

The project is inclusive, supporting students’ diverse needs in its myriad spaces, from the expansive learning stair for large groups to nooks for pairs and individuals. Inclusivity is reinforced through all-gender bathrooms, hearing augmentation systems and an accessibility strategy that solves campus-wide issues.

In alignment with Xavier’s Jesuit philosophy, Kostka seeks to ensure different subjects and interests are valued equally – reading, drama, art, making, meditation and prayer, science and technology and physical activity coalesce in a programmatically-rich teaching and learning environment.
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The Australian Institute of Architects Presentation to Juries offered entrants in the 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards an opportunity to address judges with their nominated projects. Featuring some of Australia’s most prominent architects.

Presentation to Juries is a rare opportunity for the public to learn about the influences behind some of Victoria’s most innovative buildings and follow the architectural process from concept to construction.