With 10 primary, secondary and tertiary design projects underway across NSW, the local team is experiencing increased demand across the Education and Research sector.
Woods Bagot is a leader in education and learning design. Meadowbank Schools won Best School and Best Use of Colour at the 2022 World Architecture Festival ahead of 17 short-listed schools from China, Australia, India, Denmark, US and Spain.
In subsequent years, the Mosman High School has been awarded and shortlisted for local and international architectural programs. Woods Bagot’s approach to Mosman High School speaks to the overarching design philosophy, which is to reflect the playful and creative character of the school and to serve the community by creating a space that is flexible, promotes future focused learning and ultimately, creates ‘a space for everyone’.
“Our team in Sydney is helping to curate some of the best educational and research facilities across the globe,” says Woods Bagot Director and Global Sector Leader – Education & Science, Sarah Ball. “These projects span the entire learning continuum—from kindergarten through Year 12 and into higher education and shaping tomorrow’s leaders.”
“The Sydney studio has helped curate a model for education that has been since released as part of the NSW Pattern Book for Schools. The team has utilised design elements from their award-winning projects to standardise school design for future SINSW projects as part of a system that creates equity and efficiency through quality design.”
Major projects opening this year include the Macquarie Physics, Astronomy and Engineering building, Wentworth Point High School, Castle Hill Primary School, St Mary’s Cathedral College, Carlingford West Public School and Cumberland High School.
Newly appointed as the Sydney Studio Education Lead, Lucian Gormley is making his return to the education sector, after leading and contributing to significant, city-shaping design projects, including the Crows Nest Sydney Metro, The Bays – Sydney Metro West, Waterloo Metro Quarter, Waterloo South Estate, and Blackwattle Bay Redevelopment.
“I’ve always had a strong affinity to the education sector,” says Lucian. “I tutored for more than 5 years at Sydney University after I completed my Master of Architecture, and I started out at Woods Bagot working on projects at the University of Sydney, University of Canberra and The University of NSW. Whilst I have more recently had a focus on major public work in Sydney, I’ve never lost touch with education as a sector. As a senior studio design stream leader, I have continued to review a lot of our education and schools projects through their development in the studio and am a huge advocate of the role design plays in delivering a built form canvas for learning.”
Prior to these major projects, Lucian led the design of the UNSW Stage 2 Biosciences project, collaborated on the Arthur Phillip High School competition, the Susan Wakil Stage 1 competition, and more recently provided key insights into the recently released Pattern Book for Schools.
“One of the things I’ve noticed with schools, is that the student populations are really amplifying and the scale of the resulting built form is in some ways pressurising the scale of the communities they serve. Like infrastructure work education projects are similarly looking to find smart design strategies to sensitively weave into the local fabric in cost effective ways.”
“There’s a crossover on how we deliver these projects. We’re now using modularity and DfMA to help keep these projects within budget. We’re looking to find smart design strategies that meet the cost and delivery profile but still enable us to design buildings that communities can be proud of, that speak to local identity, and, hopefully, to the joy of learning.”
“Each education project is centred around designing for different needs and abilities, they are all unique, but ultimately our goal is to realise enduring, built form that captures the essence of the journey of learning.”
“I have young kids at school now, so for me, I love the idea of unlocking spaces that I know would make them excited to create, learn, think. For education projects, typically it’s the architectural elements that present an opportunity to encourage a sense of creativity and curiosity, which naturally draw me in.”
For Lucian, it’s the design process itself that proves most rewarding.
“An idea can come from anywhere and anyone. It’s so exciting to go through that collaboration process with our team, to really ‘unlock’ the design that will best fit the client and user’s requirements, and the constraints of the scope.”
“You could be sitting in an office sketching out an idea, and then six months, or even six years later, you can see the resolution of that sketch on site.”
“It’s both the generation and resolution of an idea that fuels me to produce the best work that I can. From the process of design to the reality of the building – and ultimately being able to see people enjoy the built experience for years to come.”
Chris Savva is the studio leader for Schools in the Sydney studio. With over 25 years’ experience in the architecture and construction industries, Chris helps steer schools projects across New South Wales, while building relationships with clients, teachers, and communities throughout the state.
“I started my education design journey with a few tertiary projects, until Meadowbank popped up. I immediately snatched up the opportunity to work on it and began the masterplanning.”
“Meadowbank was hugely successful and then we started winning a lot of school projects off the back of it – Mosman High School, Wentworth Point High School, Cumberland High School, St Mary’s Cathedral – to name a few.”
When it comes to schools, “safety is the number one priority, always,” says Savva. “Everyone wants their child to be safe. A core focus of the design is about keeping kids from falling, tripping, anti-bullying measures.”
“Kids have to feel safe in order to learn.”
The second is pedagogy. “Pedagogy is a rapidly changing landscape, so we try to give them different types of environments – like open or closed spaces to accommodate different needs and abilities.”
Things like comfort, environment, ventilation, shading – all of which contribute to the learning environment.
“Then we look at the architectural response, which holds a respect for country and creates schools that are contextually of their place. We use country as inspiration for the materials choices, and ensure the masterplan always has a connection to nature. The team’s commitment to place-making is evident in their approach to architectural context. Really putting the users first – safety, pedagogy, environment, and architecture – schools that are of their place,” Savva explains.
“We’re always picturing the needs of both kids and staff – good staff equals good teaching. So if the staff are happy and well, through good facilities in healthy working environments, then they’ll teach better.”
“When you’re working on social infrastructure, there’s a sense of responsibility and also an element of pride in giving back to the community.”
Regarding the Wentworth Point High School opening day, “We were standing there and the Principal was describing the architectural concept to the parents and children at an assembly, and you could see the pride to be the first to attend a brand new school that was unique for them. In that moment, I was thinking how glad I was that we considered every detail, because these kids will be spending a lot of their lives there for several years.”
“What makes a good school? I think it’s how it relates to individual students. You picture the scale of the student, you picture the scale of the building, and you try to make the building relate – in size, in tactility, in interest while providing nurturing environments through great ventilation and natural light.
“Designing for schools is not only about kids, it’s about community, it’s about teachers, and most importantly it’s about the future.”
A significant addition to the Sydney education team is Jess Austin, who joined Woods Bagot from Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DSR) in 2024, bringing with him an impressive international portfolio of education work – including the transformative Susan Wakil Health Building at the University of Sydney.
“The projects I’ve worked on in the last few years have been student-centric,” says Austin. “There’s a big push to understand what students need socially, and how that can be fed into the academic space.”
Austin’s experience spans from Columbia Business School in Manhattan to adaptive reuse projects at Duke University, bringing global best practices to Sydney’s education landscape.
“Each centre for learning has different ‘goals’, but there is a collective interest in upskilling a new generation. Central to all new projects is a focus on a flexibility of education modes, integration of technology, and sustainability on display as a core value of the university.”
“The university experience is such a formative part of the beginning stages of someone’s career. With tertiary, you’re less worried about keeping students engaged, but more interested in how you bring innovative learning into the classroom. Often that comes with new technology requirements in the classroom.”
“Tertiary education requires good collaboration. We, as architects, often have project partners, but we also have a lot of collaboration with stakeholders at the universities – Deans, Philanthropists, Professors – that require an ability to pull in a broad range of ideas and expectations and respond with a design that considers every different point of view.”
“Architects are used to trying to sell their vision,” Austin explains, “but we should be listening to their requirements and what they need and help them use the spaces using our expertise – pointing to examples across the world and how we can apply that in context.”
As an accomplished project leader, Jess brings a wealth of experience in master planning, concept, design, and delivery to projects. He has a proven track record, having worked with world-renowned institutions on culture changing projects, such as MoMA Renovation, Tarrkarri Centre for first nations culture in Adelaide, Columbia University Business School, Sydney University SWHB, Stanford University Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital and Duke University Broadhead Center.
Alissandra Johnston is part of the senior project team currently focused on the Macquarie University Astro Physics and Engineering facility, bringing crucial experience from the delivery of Meadowbank Schools. Her experience strengthens the team’s capacity to manage complex, large-scale educational developments.
Johnston’s educational design approach centres on creating environments that are fundamentally welcoming and inclusive for everyone. “For learning spaces, it’s important to create a safe environment that allows people to grow, think, and be free to be themselves,” says Johnston.
“There are so many variables for age, ability and ever-evolving methods of learning. Spaces can be tight and budgets can be prohibitive, but through the design we can problem-solve and create spaces that can adapt with new and emerging technologies.”
“The way students learn now is so different to when we were at university,” says Johnston. “For Macquarie University, we were thinking about how we’d be able to accommodate both lectures of up to 120 students, or smaller, more intimate workshops.”
At the heart of Johnston’s philosophy lies the concept of “sticky spaces” – which she describes as “carefully designed areas that naturally draw students to campus and encourage the spontaneous interactions that fuel learning.”
“There’s so much to be said for the incidental learnings that happen in the ‘between’ and breakout spaces,” she explains.
“When people have been working and studying from home or able to do things remotely, you need spaces that are going to pull students together.”
Macquarie University’s engineering facility is a prime example. The central forum space, with its glazed walls facing the main campus walkway, serves multiple functions throughout the day.
“Students can sit there eating their lunch with their mates, working on their homework or just discussing their projects, while evening events transform the same space into community hubs, hosting presentations, talks, or movie nights,” says Johnston.
Strategic sight lines into professional workshops allow students to observe their potential career opportunities. This visibility allows students to view university as a holistic experience, one that is the start of their careers.
“As student’s walk through Wally’s Walk, they can see people creating things in the lab, and they can realise that these are real people doing jobs they might want in the future.”
“There are very tight restraints we need to follow, but for each project we want to make sure that we push where we can and celebrate the out-of-the-box thinking, as these lead to some of the most creative outcomes,” says Johnston.
“With Macquarie, we knew that we wanted to include viewing platforms in the communal space and so we started imagining it in different modes,” says Johnston.
“It’s always going to serve its primary purpose as a university, but we were thinking about how the space would transform for exhibition nights or as a viewing platform for the ‘robot wars’ that happen on campus. So, we included bridge links that are really open, with three-storey voids that allow students across each level to watch the action from the mezzanines above.”
For Johnston, the most rewarding aspect of her work is witnessing how people engage with the designs in meaningful ways.
“Meadowbank was particularly special for me, as we did the bulk of the work during the COVID-19 lockdowns. We were working from our lounge rooms, but to get through to the end and see it being used and functioning as a school was just amazing.”
“At the end of the day, it’s all about the students and their future. Our role is to design spaces that will spark curiosity and foster the kind of learning that helps to shape future generations.”
John Norman brings over 40 years of experience to every project, but his design approach isn’t defined by a single sector. Having worked across public, commercial, retail, residential, aged care and educational sectors, John is able to embed key industry knowledge from other sectors to create a holistic approach to design.
His philosophy is straightforward: “We design buildings for people.”
When it comes to education, the people-first approach is particularly evident. “It’s a public building,” says John. ” It’s not just for the developer, it provides a service to the broader community,” he explains.
“From primary to tertiary, you’re working with people’s lives. People are there to learn and you need to create environments where they feel comfortable and safe.”
The responsibility that comes with educational design shapes every decision. Unlike commercial developments that might be sold on after completion, schools and universities must endure for decades.
“They’re not easy projects, because they won’t be sold on in the future. The designs also have to be robust to deal with the budget constraints, which, in turn, makes the fundamental design stronger.”
“For me, the question is always, ‘how do we use technical knowledge to achieve the best design outcome in the most efficient and elegant way?’”
A large part of this question centres on sustainability. “Clients own the building for the life of the project, so recurrent costs are a consideration. Ensuring you’re creating guardrails for energy efficiency is important, so that they won’t have to pay for constant improvements over the next 50 years.”
Central to all education projects is pedagogy, which is now a standard part of the design process. For John, it’s about the interstitial spaces, which inspires informal learning.
“When students leave a room, you don’t want them to immediately disperse, you want them to stay and discuss ideas about what they’ve learnt.”
“At Nan Tien, for example, we tried to provide that level of comfort through dynamic light and ventilation,” says John. “But at Meadowbank, we were able to create a six-story school with access to the landscape at every level.”
“The project had a very strong focus on connection to country, which made the design interventions so special. The landscape spine was created through open-space connections and we were able to bring all the students together in a single space.”
When it comes to his design philosophy, John says, “You’re always learning. I tend not to go into projects with a preconceived idea, because you want to try and understand the client’s needs and guide them through the design – working as a team, rather than applying an individual point of view.”
“Education projects have so many people involved, but everyone deeply cares about the lasting impacts and is invested in producing a great outcome.”
For John, the true measure of success comes from user feedback. “You put a lot of effort into the building to get the right solution, but you really don’t know until someone has been in there and validates the design effort through the end use of the building.”
“When you get the commentary back from the users that the design ‘clicks’, it makes all the hard work worth it.”
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