Blogs — Classroom Design

Our Projects: Victoria Park Christian School

Victoria Park Christian School is a unique educational institution committed to offering an outstanding education while embracing the power of nature-inspired learning. With a focus on delivering a holistic education that integrates outdoor classrooms and nature play areas, the school strives to create an inspiring educational environment.

In partnership with Office Line, Victoria Park Christian School undertook a project to furnish its new teaching block, including four General Learning Areas (GLAs) for early learning years and a small admin area. The school sought furniture that not only provided functionality but also aligned with its vision for a natural aesthetic, complementing the nature-play playground in front of the classrooms.

 Project Overview:

The project involved the design and furnishing of the new teaching block at Victoria Park Christian School, in collaboration with Matthews & Scavalli Architects. The facility included four GLAs designed for Pre Primary, Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 students, accommodating 24 children per GLA. Additionally, a small administrative area with three workspaces was created. An existing GLA for Kindy students was also part of the project.

To meet the school's vision of a natural aesthetic and durability, Office Line provided a range of furniture and soft furnishings, including:

• Cubs Range: Developed specifically for early learning years, this furniture range was chosen for its practicality and comfort. The range includes many types of furniture, such as tables, chairs, stools and benches – all made from high-quality solid European beech. Each piece has been designed and manufactured with children in mind.  Sharp edges and corners have been removed, and non-toxic raw materials have been used throughout.

• Tetris Lounges: These lounges offer flexible seating options for students and teachers, contributing to a dynamic learning environment.

• Flexistack Units: Versatile and space-efficient, these units facilitate organised storage and seating arrangements in the classrooms. Combining the Gratnells trays and runners with a full melamine cabinet, they are available with various tray combinations, and we even offer a model with a comfortable seat pad to meet the needs of any flexible learning area.

• Teacher's Armchair (Saba): These armchairs, with timber legs and upholstered in Rosie Paine Fabric, provide a comfortable and stylish seating option for educators. Moreover, embrace the Aboriginal culture and teach kids about it from an early age. 

• Heavy-Duty Bean Bags: Designed to withstand daily use, these bean bags offer students a comfortable and flexible seating alternative. They are also a great alternative for neurodiverse kids. 
• Dot Mats: These mats provide a soft and clean surface for various classroom activities.

• Custom Eduflex Square Desks: Three 1500x1500 square desks were customised for Year 1 to allow for group activities and collaborative learning.
• Play and Sensory Furniture: Various play and sensory furniture items, including a Shopping/Theatre Stand, dress-up trolley, and Play Kitchen, were incorporated to enhance interactive and imaginative learning.

The choice of fabric was critical to achieving the desired aesthetic and durability. Combining Rosie Made fabrics and Warwick Key largo in shades like 'Navy,' 'Sky,' 'Atlantic,' 'Marigold,' 'Paprika,' and 'Pumpkin' created a vibrant and cozy atmosphere in the classrooms. Office Line also provided Eduflex Bean Bags in 'Red' and 'Dark Blue' Marine grade vinyl to match the school's colour scheme.

The partnership between Office Line and Victoria Park Christian School resulted in a teaching block seamlessly integrating with the school's commitment to nature-inspired learning. The furniture selected not only met functional requirements but also contributed to a welcoming and nurturing environment. The chosen materials and fabric ensured longevity and ease of maintenance, aligning with the school's vision of providing an outstanding and sustainable educational experience for its students.

Our Projects: Peter Carnley Anglican Community School

Peter Carnley Anglican Community School's latest addition to their already impressive facilities, is ‘The Hub’, an Innovative and flexible learning centre. This space includes a senior reading lounge, collaborative spaces for E-learning, meeting/multi-purpose rooms, and a junior library area. The Office Line team worked hard to design and furnish a magnificent space which promotes creativity and collaboration, and exceed the school’s needs and expectations. 

COLOURS AND FABRICS

Finishes are a very important part of our projects. In this case our interior design team selected Laminex’s Seasoned Oak, a soft warm oak with subtle grain, and Warwick Fabric’s Gravity range in Pomegranate, Navy and Forest shades. The Gravity fabric was chosen for its heavy commercial properties, calm muted tones, and subtle tactile herringbone texture. These selections help the educational furniture support flexible learning and create a comfortable and inviting space for students to learn, read and collaborate. 

SENIOR READING LOUNGE

We designed a comfortable, open space that takes advantage of natural light coming in from the 12m span of windows. The curved Spectator Bookcase Collection with round I.AM tables and Eduflex Ottomans creates a perfect area for students to sit and work together, with ample shelving and relaxed bench seating below the windowsill. Ponder Lounges and joiner ottomans are also used as casual seating throughout the learning space, with a low 850h back and many configuration options to suit different group sizes. 

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MAIN COLLABORATIVE SPACE

This 21st century learning space was designed to be flexible and encourage students to share ideas and engage in E-learning activities. It’s thrilling to see students fill this area with colours and vibrancy as they interact freely. The large U-Shaped Spectator Bench Setting seats up to 32 students and the wrap around benching combined with Eduflex Laptop Tables in the centre enable the use of devices, and foster the open, collaborative nature of this learning space. 

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THE JUNIOR FICTION

This area is benchmarked by a Office Line’s Swell Collection, that was designed and manufactured specifically for the project. It offers 3 tiers of seating with 3 different heights: 300h, 450h and 600h for students to sit, read and learn in their own way. This space also has clusters of Spectator Bookcase Lounges in 90-degree segments around circular I.AM tables that provide an attractive surface for all reading, learning and creative activities of the younger students. 

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Final Results:

       

       

Office Line’s portion of this fantastic project was successfully completed on time and within budget, fully meeting our clients expectation. Our team is delighted with the final outcome and would like to thank the school management for their trust and support throughout the process. Their confidence in the team's expertise in design and product selection was instrumental in the success of the project, and we were proud to be able to support their expectation along the journey with our market leading communication and personal support.

At Office Line we genuinely care about our clients!  

Our Projects: Salvado Catholic College

Salvado Catholic College have been a loyal customer of Office Line’s for many years. We are proud of the work we have done on learning area designs and layouts, and the manufacture of the educational furniture within the school. We have witnessed the growth of Salvado Catholic College from it’s opening in 2016 until now and feel privileged to be part of their journey.

The power of flexible learning spaces

In recent years, more schools are beginning to adopt learning spaces that allow students to work in different spaces that facilitate more open-ended learning and collaboration. Students and teachers alike have been celebrating these new types of learning environments that encourage students to take ownership over their own learning and be accountable for their own education.

The idea of letting children play and learn without the constraints of a formal classroom is not new; both Montessori and Waldorf schools, for example, are based on this idea. But it has been difficult to measure the effect these environments have comparing with a traditional classroom setting.

A study performed by the Gensler Research Institute measured the impact on students' attention and engagement in an enhanced learning environment, one that was flexible and mobile enough to provide students with opportunities to choose their own activities, learn from one another, and engage in hands-on work. The results found that students in the enhanced space spent less time learning from the teacher and more from one another and by themselves, reporting an increase in the efficacy across all learning modes—that is, an improvement in their ability to focus, collaborate, acquire, and convey information in the learning space.

The research also showed a higher productivity and commitment, thanks to the feeling of support by having the chance to work collaboratively with one another in a social setting and experiencing greater feelings of connectedness, which further create a positive association toward the school itself.

In addition to this, the role of presenter seamlessly shifts between teacher and student; as such, they were able to interact with the material at a deeper level than they could have when they were passive receptacles for information.

If you're interested in creating your own flexible learning space, there are some simple changes you can make. Many people are surprised to find that there is a huge difference between an ordinary classroom and a classroom designed to allow for flexibility in learning.

At Office Line, we believe education can be transformed by design, which is why our goal is to create spaces that support collaboration, bring students and teachers together and encourage creativity, our expertise can help you create the perfect space for your school.

Our experts are ready to assist you on the journey. give us a call 1800 762 460 or email us: info@officeline.com.au

Newman College Case Study

Newman College embraces creativity and innovation in their learning spaces and knows how important these environments are to the education, wellbeing and interactions of their students. That is why we, at Office Line, felt privileged to be able to support them in refurbishing their main learning Hub.

The St John Henry Newman Learning Hub is a key facility at Newman College, featuring a main open plan learning space, with breakout rooms, meeting areas and lecture theatre branching off. The three-story building provides modern collaboration spaces, and state of the art learning resources for students to work together and individually.

Our Projects: The King's College

The Lighthouse Studio at The King’s College was part of their inclusive education upgrade. It was designed to create a safe space for students to be able to retreat and seek assistance without any stigma.

With an understanding of our client's needs, we were able to produce a great result. Our project design lead, Amanda, worked closely with the school team and presented them with layouts and 3D renders so they could visualize how their ideas would look in reality.

We enjoyed transforming this classroom into an educational space that students can feel comfortable and safe in. We know that the right furniture selection and finishes can assist in making a difference in a students' education experience.

At Office Line, we strive to only use furniture and materials made here in Australia. We want every student to have the best possible experience while they're at school, and we believe that starts with the spaces they spend their time in every day. 

Office Line is proud to be part of inclusive projects like this, where the spaces which we help to create, allow students to find their inner greatness.

If you have a space that needs enhancing, give us a call 1800 333 116 or email us info@officeline.com.au

Our experts are ready to assist you on the journey.