Designing new Technology facilities
The Albany Senior High School facilities
Staff at the recently formed Albany Senior High School were the envy of colleagues around the country, when they moved into their new school building with all-new equipment at the beginning of 2010. The 18 foundation teachers, appointed in 2008 to a school which hadn't then received resource consent for its buildings, were given an exciting challenge – to develop the physical and philosophical structure of the country's first state senior school. They had to develop a curriculum and programmes for the first intake of Year 11 students, and were also consulted by architectural firm Jazmax, which designed the new building, on the overall design and specialised needs, such as the Technology workrooms.
The school opened in temporary accommodation at Albany Junior High School in 2009 with a roll of 260 Year 11 students. The original plan was for a move to new premises in April 2010 but instead, after 18 months of construction work, the new school opened ahead of schedule in January 2010. As the building was designed with capacity for 1,500 students, the students were able to be housed in one wing that first year while work proceeded on the other. When the first intake reaches Year 13 in 2011 there will still be surplus space, as the school was planned to cater for anticipated population growth in Albany over several more years.
Contrary to the trend, in designing or redeveloping schools, for Technology suites, the Product Design department – Hard and Soft Materials, Food Technology, Graphics, Automotive and Digital Technology – has deliberately been located in different parts of the building rather than together in one block. This was partly due to different requirements for the workrooms. The Foods rooms, which are sited near the cafe and theatre, are used by different groups in the school and need to be close to these areas for catering purposes. The Hard Materials room has a courtyard and flat parking area so that suppliers can drive in and deliver stock right to the door.
Most teaching within Albany Senior High School is delivered in learning commons (open plan classrooms) with 'pods' available for lessons that need a separate space, such as when a video is being shown or students are being assessed on presentation skills. The Technology rooms obviously need to be enclosed due to noise and to keep equipment secure, but rather than being isolated in their own area Technology teachers are scattered throughout the building to emphasise their role in the open-plan learning environment. HOD Product Design Tim Cook and TIC Food/Fabrics Sharon Catchpole, two of the foundation staff, were in the privileged position of being able to have some input into the structure of the school. Tim says the whole staff (which had risen to 30 by the end of that planning year) spent a lot of time talking about what the school was going to be like in terms of ethos and values as well as some aspects of the physical layout.
Establishing protocols for the use of technology throughout the school enabled a fresh approach to student use of computers, and it was decided that the school would operate on open source software so that students wouldn't be curtailed at school or home if unable to access a particular application.
The school building was originally planned as wider and lower but, due to objections over the destruction of trees and skink habitats, resource consent was delayed and the final plan was for a five-level structure on a smaller land area – and with provision for a skink sanctuary!
Hard Materials
The original drawings for the Hard Materials room had featured a more traditional design with, for example, woodwork benches running around the room. Tim worked with the architect to change this and create a multi-materials space where students could work with a range of materials and, depending on the stage they were at, concentrate on practical work or their portfolios.
The Graphics room opens straight into the Hard Materials workroom which, says Tim, was "four walls and a ceiling" when he first moved into it. He has gradually purchased machinery and tools as needed and has organised the storage space and facilities essential for good lesson organisation from his three-year start-up budget. At this stage the students are mostly working in wood, metal and plastic but Tim is keen to diversify so that the subject is truly multi-materials. Tim has also invested in sustainable equipment and resources as the opportunity has arisen through the Impact Projects programme, which operates on a Technological Practice approach and in which every student in the school is involved. This has led, for example, to the purchase of robotic and jewellery-making equipment for students to use for their projects. Although fortunate in being able to start from scratch in setting up a workroom, Tim admits there is some pressure "to get it right" when spending such large amounts.
The workroom has been designed to create an easy flow for students, with all the smaller materials and tools kept there so that time isn't wasted going in and out of storerooms. Tim describes his area as part of "a state-of-the-art 21st century school to go with the programme we've got for the students", but old-fashioned systems can still have their place and shadow boards on the walls ensure tools are replaced correctly.
Opening up from the workroom are the outside courtyard area, a machinery room (which includes a vertical milling machine, metalwork lathes and a welding bay) and large storerooms. Jazmax consulted Tim about placement of the machinery, particularly the wood lathes which produce more dust, and designed an extraction system to fit in with his plan.
Tim describes his area as "a work in progress" because there is still space for other practical pathways. He is presently considering ceramics equipment, as part of developing cross-curricular links with the Art department and also because there will be more emphasis on modelling in the newly rewritten Year 11 programme.
One of the advantages of teaching at a senior college, Tim adds, is that students arrive with a certain skill level, sometimes quite sophisticated, on which he can build. The Product Design courses are all achievement standards-based (although Digital Technology currently incorporates a few unit standards) so students work independently to produce individual outcomes. The school works on 100-minute periods which, Tim says, allows teachers to get into those deeper areas of learning.
Food Technology
Food Technology and Hospitality lessons are delivered in adjacent but separate classrooms and are situated by the school cafe, so they can be used for catering school functions. The Hospitality room is used by other groups in the school when not in use as a teaching classroom which, Sharon says, mightn't suit everyone. "You certainly have to adjust to the style of teaching that goes on in the school and if you were a teacher who wanted to keep the room to yourself, I think there would be a few issues; you've got to have that flexibility."
The building plan allows people using the Hospitality room to take food out to the cafe seating area or directly into the theatre. As well as catering for functions, the room is used at weekends by groups such as the rugby teams and on Wednesdays by students working on Impact Projects.
The school had applied for accreditation with the Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI) which Sharon consulted during planning and designing of the Hospitality room as she had to have particular fittings, such as a salamander and deep fryer, to be able to teach HSI unit standards. One of their managers worked directly with Jazmax to ensure the Hospitality room was designed for installation of the range hoods, dishwashers and other fitted items required by the institute.
Sharon is particularly pleased with the stainless steel tables, as used in commercial kitchens, which she purchased at approximately half-price after they had been used at a culinary fair. These provide plenty of room for students to prepare and plate-up food away from the four ovens. Sharon decided on open shelving as the best answer to storage and access issues, not only because students can more easily reach equipment but the system is also used in polytechnics. The obvious disadvantage of this is the problem of dust, but she says overall it has worked well because cupboard doors aren't continually being opened and shut.
The Hospitality room opens into the Food Technology room which is set up and equipped differently. The tables can be easily moved, to allow for different teaching activities, and although there is a commercial dishwasher other equipment such as the ovens are domestic versions.
Two large storage rooms are located opposite the two classrooms. There are a big fridge and freezer in the food storeroom with plenty of open shelving (so that open cupboard doors don't take up space) for food, and a trolley to move stock. The cleaning room also has lots of shelving, as well as a domestic washing machine and dryer. These will be replaced however, as it is too time-consuming to wash and dry tea towels and suchlike from two classrooms as well as sheets and towels from the sick bay. In the next budget round they will go upstairs to the Soft Materials room and be replaced by industrial machines.
Completing the Foods area is an office, bigger than others in the school due to the shape of the building on that floor, and Sharon comments that she is also envied by other staff because she has it to herself rather than sharing.
Soft Materials
Although first-year teacher Anna Carr wasn't involved in planning the Soft Materials room, she can't see anything she'd want to change and describes it as "just fabulous – that large space is really exciting because there's just so much potential". Anna is fortunate in having a particularly large room, again because of the building's layout, and is already thinking about what else she might do as the school expands – one idea is to buy cutting tables which, due to size constraints, most schools don't have.
The room contains lots of bench and cupboard space and a changing room. The size plus the huge amount of natural light coming in allows Anna scope in arranging the workspace – she presently has all the sewing machines around the edges of the room. The smaller class size at Years 11-12 means that there is a sewing machine for every student and, because they were bought new, every student can work on an up-to-date machine. There are also four overlockers, and Anna bought three "quilter'" sewing machines for sewing thicker sections of fabric.
Anna has set up research bays where students can use the computers or look at books, and has a light-box they can use when designing. The room was set up with wheeled whiteboards, which she says are more useful than fixed ones, and a data projector.
A wet bay, where the washing machine and dryer from the Foods area will go, makes it easy for students to do felting, dyeing and screen printing.
Anna says she missed having a designated hanging space for clothes when she first moved in, but now prefers the trolleys and finds it really handy being able to move them around. But the best thing, she repeats, is the natural light. "The students love coming into this lovely, big open space and they just get recharged, with the light and the beautiful scenery".
Digital Technology
Teacher Doug Oosthuizen moved into his room on the fifth floor in Term 2 2010, though he won't have much company on that level until 2011 when it will be needed for the full complement of approximately 700 students. Doug also joined the school in its second year so had no input into the original design, but says there isn't a lot he would change. He appreciates the large floor area and plans to take advantage of this to change seating arrangements. The computers are presently arranged facing each other in a line down the room but Doug will change to a T shape and seat students so that they can work in groups of four or five in a "world cafe" arrangement for discussion and feedback. He adds that installing one control switch will allow central control for all the computers so that someone sitting at the back isn't tempted to log on while he's talking to them.
Doug concludes that it's a space that works well, and that it's useful in an IT environment to have a dedicated room to work in. Other groups use the room but only occasionally, as there are plenty of computers around the learning commons that students can easily access
Teachers are all pleased with the environment they're working in, and the school building reflects not only the consultation between Jazmax and them, but also some student input. During construction in 2009 students were invited to choose colour schemes for the internal walls, and Tim reports that although staff favoured more conservative wood-faced panels for the library the school is painted in the bright, primary colours that the students voted for.
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