The essence of the master plan for Presbyterian Ladies’ College is to provide facilities for an established six stream, K to 12 private girls school on a split site in Peppermint Grove of 4.2 hectares, one third government area guidelines, without reducing current sports grounds and leaving room for long term future growth. This has been achieved by building small footprint three storey buildings that use the fall of the land to present mainly two storey facades to the residential streets.

 

Early school community consultations indicated that the campus was perceived as having no obvious front to individual schools, no hierarchy of spaces, as well as lacking visual consistency. The correction of these perceived campus weaknesses was also a major consideration of the master plan, in addition to the educational requirements of providing cutting edge facilities for the present and flexibility for the future.  

 

Another component of the master plan was to create a limited palette of materials and details, determined by choosing the most successful in existing buildings and using them for all new projects. These materials were also chosen to be sympathetic to the school’s residential context.  Also important is that each subsequent building is handled in its own appropriate way within the discipline of the consistent palette.