Mount Sinai College announced as winner in the Renovation/Modernisation category 2019 LEA Australasia Awards.
Mount Sinai College was awarded the winner of the prestigious 2019 Learning Environments Australasia (LEA) NSW Chapter for outstanding achievements in ‘Renovation/Modernisation over $5M’ category.
Phil Roberts, Principal of Mount Sinai College and Adrian Curtis, Director of Learning at Smith + Tracey Architects
The jury’s citation reinforced Mount Sinai’s successful balance between the educational transformation of learning spaces and the cultural values delivered through the architectural design and vision of the College. “The emerging pedagogical approach at Mount Sinai College is focused on the ‘diversity’ of individual student needs; through a curriculum enabling ‘curiosity’; and the encouragement of ‘creativity’. The design strategy and architecture supports this vision by creating a connected, inclusive and stimulating environment that inspires the students on their learning journey.”
Mount Sinai’s new classroom spaces effortlessly embody the vision of future education and are purposely designed to support learning that is self-directed, independent, interdependent, authentically personalized and differentiated. Learning that is active rather than passive and student-driven.
Smith + Tracey, who are the architects of the new campus relaunch say “we view the LEA as validation that the transformation of the learning environment at Mount Sinai College strongly reflects and embeds the culture of the College community with a connected contemporary educational setting.”
Principal of Mount Sinai College Phil Roberts said: “as the famous proverb goes ‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’. Well, in our case, I beg to differ. The transformation of the College has been an inspiration to all. What I have enjoyed is meeting the many ex-Collegians who have not seen the College for a number of years as they are so excited to see the new school. However, as I have always said, this is great architecture in so far as it achieves the purpose of making teaching and learning more enjoyable and meaningful to everyone.”
Anthony Berman, Mount Sinai College President said, “most of you have lived through the past year of construction with us, and whilst we as a community and school are incredibly proud of our new campus, it’s often rewarding when external professionals recognise the accomplishments of our hard work. Our architecture says ‘come in and meet the family’, and that’s exactly what we want from a school and broader community.”
The LEA awards, made up of both designers and educationalists, promote best practice across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in the design, building and use of learning spaces that can improve educational outcomes for learning. Mount Sinai College is now being put forward for the LEA National and International Awards held in New Zealand May 2020.
Smith + Tracey say, the opportunity to submit for the International Awards “is a celebration of the design quality, cultural engagement and pedagogical synergy created at MSC, and the chance to share the innovative and progressive thinking within a National and International forum.”
