Northshore Christian Grammar School

Dec 2

A community-focused school for Perth’s north coast

Project info

Client: Swan Christian Education Association (SCEA)
Location: Alkimos, WA
Traditional owners: Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation
Value: Stage 1: $7.4 Million, Stage 2: $5.2 Million
Date: 2020
Images credit: Robert Frith – Acorn Photo

Northshore Christian Grammar School is a K-12 school in Alkimos – a new coastal suburb in Perth’s north. As the first non-residential building in its vicinity, the school plays an important civic role for students, their families and the surrounding neighbourhood.

In close collaboration with the school’s principal and staff, the TRCB team developed a multi-stage masterplan with buildings arranged around an internal pedestrian avenue that traverses the campus and doubles as a central activity area for assemblies, collaborative learning and exhibitions. Classroom pairs – linked by shared spaces that connect to the central ‘street’ – are aligned along this axis, creating a whole-building learning community that can be adapted to respond to varying activities, group sizes and teaching methods.

Throughout, materials such as rammed earth, timber, coloured concrete, coloured glass and galvanised steel have been selected for their tactile qualities as much as for their beauty and durability. To enhance the school’s connection to its coastal setting, large open downpipes make an interactive display of rainwater flow, while vertical, coloured-glass elements at each entrance radiate light in the evenings, reminiscent of lighthouses.

The school’s relationship to the growing neighbourhood it sits within has been an integral design consideration: the central ‘street’ facilitates gatherings both in and out of school hours which, combined with a café servery, built-in wood-fired pizza oven and generously sized outdoor rooms, have resulted in the school becoming a local hub for the broader community.

Awards