South Melbourne Primary School designed by Hayball is Victoria’s first ‘vertical school’, doing away with fences as an exemplar of an educational environment shaped for the close-quartered, communal life.

Tract landscape architecture team in collaboration with Hayball worked to weave greenery and open space throughout the school’s six-storeys, creating a design narrative of vertical connection.

“As you go through the different outdoor spaces, we wanted to allow students a more physical connection to greenery, providing opportunities for tactile engagement with plantings.”
says Mariano Lopez, Principal Landscape Architect, Tract Consultants.

For a look inside the Ferrars Street complex and how the project team created a school shaped for the 21st-century city please click the link below.
A fenceless, vertical school in Melbourne trades hard borders for close-knit community - Foreground

Photography by - Chris Matterson Photography