Leongatha, Victoria, Australia

This project, a 1615sqm learning centre in Gippsland, Victoria, became the first TAFE building in Australia to be awarded a 5 Star Green Star (Education Design v1) rating by the Green Building Council of Australia. Our approach to the design was to integrate, rather than separate, the building’s conceptual and sustainable design aspects.

Wind engineers advised us on the effect of natural wind considerations on the building. In response, we designed the building’s envelope to enhance natural ventilation internally while minimising extreme wind gusts around the building. The wind scoops on the south elevation induce positive pressures from westerly and easterly winds, maximising suction pressure into teaching and staff areas. Fairings on the north elevation deflect hot northerly winds and capture cooling easterly winds.

The project embraces the question: what does a 5 Star Green Star educational building look like? Consequently, the building’s aerodynamic effect is an outcome of active environmental engineering design, synthesised into the building envelope.

“Conscious of its location on what was once farming land, one of the starting points for Morgan's design was the simple tin shed. The GippsTAFE is fully clad in steel, but instead of rectilinear walls and a barn door, this building, federally funded, appears like origami, stretching to either attract the natural light or channel the prevailing northerly winds for important cross-ventilation. ''Our clients wanted a building that would encourage a higher quality of learning, as well as one that had a strong focus on sustainability,'' says Morgan.”

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Stephen Crafti, ‘Radical view of the old tin shed’, The Age, Melbourne, July 20, 2011