The Essington School

The junior classrooms and cafeteria building adds to the recognisable ‘image’ emerging from the Essington School of Darwin.

Client: The Essington School
Location: Nightcliff, NT

The building incorporates six new classrooms, servery, kitchen facilities, covered eating area, undercroft outdoor space and two-storey lift access. The climatic realities of the extreme Darwin environment are considered in the design response with undercover spaces, linking to outdoor play areas for relief from the harsh sun and heavy rainfall.
An open air breezeway between classrooms facilitates the schools ability to respond to cooler days during the dry season, with openable louvred windows that promote cross ventilation, reducing the need for air-conditioning. Aesthetically the building’s fabric is engaging with a palette of colours, graphics and materiality that is recognisable as
‘The Essington School of Darwin’.