KIOSC | Woods Bagot - Arch2O.com

Located at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, KIOSC (the Knox Innovation and Sustainability Centre) is a local icon of sustainable design and education designed by the firm Woods Bagot. Cementing the point of sustainability further, is the fact that the Centre is geared for secondary education instead of towards specialized university students. School years 7-12 have the opportunity to learn both passively and actively about the essentials that create good environmental design and foster understanding about positive future practices.

photography by © Peter Bennetts

Created under pooled Australian Commonwealth government funding (supplied as part of the Trade Training Centre in Schools Program) from seven local schools, the Centre includes both active principles of green design- the prime of these being the building’s shading systems (perhaps the most important sustainable practice for Australian buildings)- and passive decisions such as building orientation, and proper integration with the building’s site.

photography by © Peter Bennetts

The program for the Centre’s educational aspects includes a 100-student presentation area, basic laboratories, TAFE labs + ancillary spaces, technologically equipped collaboration areas and a Discovery Centre aimed at immersing the school’s senior secondary students in the practices and implementation of sustainable building techniques and technologies.

photography by © Peter Bennetts

As stated above, the educational aspects are not relegated to classrooms alone. Indeed, the building itself acts as a resources. The iconic facade features attractively contrived louvres which lend the building an identity while acting in conjuncture with the facade’s deep canopy to provide shading (with a view) from the sun’s primary position.