How do you get a school auditorium right?

A school auditorium is the hardest working room on the campus: assembly hall on Monday, exam room in June, concert venue on Friday night. Getting it right is a planning discipline, not a shopping list.

Theatre first, technology second

The rooms that work were planned as theatres before they were fitted as classrooms - that planning is the theatre consultant’s discipline, a role beside the architect. At Bob Hawke College we worked alongside HASSELL Architects from the planning stage - sightlines, focus and operability decided on the drawings, not discovered on site. That record is on the register.

Design to the guidelines - and to value

Western Australian school venues are designed inside the Secondary School Planning Guide, with Department of Finance and Department of Education objectives in the room. That is a constraint worth embracing: at Perth Modern School’s 700-seat auditorium, it meant the design had to stand up on value against comparable projects - rotating acoustic reflectors, an orchestra lift and all.

Build for the teacher on duty

The operating test for a school venue is simple: a Year 8 drama class before lunch, opening night by seven. That means one touchscreen a teacher can run without a technician, systems that reset themselves between users, and training delivered to teaching staff as part of handover - not an optional extra.

Delivering on a live campus

School sites do not pause for construction. At Warwick Senior High School, high-impact works were staged around school holidays, our crew carried Department of Education site clearances, and every space was ready for teaching staff from the first bell after handover. That is the delivery half of getting it right - and it is as much a part of the specification as the loudspeakers.