Dripstone Middle School STEAM Centre & Cultural Learning Space

Dripstone Middle School’s new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Centre is an innovative and stimulating learning environment that supports contemporary pedagogies such as enquiry-based learning, collaborative peer-to-peer learning and contemporary technology.

The purpose of the facility is to encourage student engagement in STEAM curriculum to prepare them for the jobs of the future. The project involved the refurbishment of the former metalwork workshop to develop a new STEAM facility, incorporating a maker space, green room, robotics laboratory and outdoor cultural learning space with a yarning circle.

The new facility is flexible and can be adapted to deliver multiple pedagogical modes. Adjacent spaces will be able to operate as individual enclosed rooms or combined to function as a single larger space. All areas were required to have good visual transparency and enable easy movement of people, equipment and materials, with accessible and secure storage solutions for equipment, materials, tools and resources. The environment influenced the design of each space, with consideration for natural light, air quality and acoustic performance.

The design celebrates learning, teaching, problem-solving, making and fabricating, and the materials, finishes and form respond to the STEAM curriculum. Hames Sharley worked closely with Dripstone Middle School’s principal and working group to provide a facility that the school would be proud of for years to come, and to enhance the learning experience for its core user group, the students.