Barker College Rosewood Centre

2023 International Architecture Award, Chicago Athenaeum + European Centre for Architecture:
2022 World Architecture Festival – Shortlist: Sport
2021 AIA National Architecture Awards: Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture
2021 AIA NSW William E Kemp Award for Educational Architecture
2021 AIA NSW Interior Architecture Commendation
2023 AILA NSW Landscape Architecture Award (360 Degrees Landscape)

Barker College is an Independent co-educational Anglican School in Hornsby. The School has a long and proud history with a presence on the site since 1895. The main campus now occupies almost an entire block with 3 sporting fields separating the secondary and junior schools – upper and lower campuses.

The new Sports and Learning Centre fronts Rosewood Field and gives important public presence to the School at its eastern entry. It provides 5 multi-use sports courts, 12 classrooms, multi-use learning spaces, staff areas, a function room, a fitness facility, and significant car parking. The multi-level project comprises 3 main architectural elements – a light- filled Sports Hall, a canopy awning, and a carved linear building with learning areas, social spaces, and balconies all overlooking the field.

The School is explicitly seeking a demonstration of its values and design excellence through this project. The project has been designed with an understanding of the powerful role a physical school environment plays, as an educator – communicating civic mindedness, sustainability, Indigenous awareness, landscape awareness, and engagement with sport. A key principle here is the ‘celebration of sport for all’ creating a vibrant place that is playful in spirit founded on clear layers of logic.

Photography by Rory Gardiner.

Featured in:
ArchitectureAU, 2021
The Sydney Morning Herald, 2021
UNION Magazine Vol 02, 2022