Suburban School in Sydney, Australia, Wins World’s Best New Building Award: World Building of the Year 2024, supported by GROHE at World Architecture Festival in Singapore, 6-8 November
Darlington Public School in Chippendale, Sydney, Australia
A modest suburban school in Australia has won the World Building of the Year 2024, beating out skyscrapers, museums, and airport terminals. Darlington Public School in Chippendale, Sydney, Australia topped over 220 other designs to win this award at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore on Friday.
The school, which opened last fall, features an angular brick building with a unique “sawtooth” roof, landscaped outdoor areas, a large basketball court, and a community garden. Curved metal screens around open-air terraces let in daylight while keeping students’ privacy.
A primary school is the first place where children experience formal learning. The design of Darlington Public School had to reflect the school’s core values. It’s a community school with strong ties to Aboriginal people.
The design blends the school with its surroundings, allowing views of the inner courtyard from the main entrance, which helps create a sense of privacy and community for the children.
The screen around the outdoor learning terraces is safe, secure, and lets in beautiful, soft light, similar to sunlight filtering through the leaves of local casuarina trees.
Darlington Public School is truly a community school. Important public areas like the community hall, COLA, and library are placed to integrate with the surrounding urban area. The new hall matches the scale of a nearby church, and the library fits naturally into the landscape, creating a more organic connection with the community.
The school is situated between the large University of Sydney and the smaller Darlington terraces. The old school was a demonstration school, so it was essential to keep its spirit alive for the community.