Client
Holmesglen Institute
Type
TAFE, Trades, Education
Location
Chadstone, VIC
This project involved a complete refurbishment of an existing workshop facility on Holmesglen’s Chadstone Campus. Spowers delivered a dynamic and technically advanced environment for plumbing-related trade education by reclaiming the original open-span workshop into a collective training environment.
Harnessing the Teaching Pod Curriculum
For this project, Spowers developed a custom-designed services infrastructure that has been integrated as an architectural feature.
This supports the full potential of Teaching Pods, which we designed as part of the modular plug-in/plug-out system. Depending on the curricular requirements on floor, each training pod can be plugged into the SRBS overhead (a system for wastewater treatment) or moved and relocated.
The infrastructure provides a flexible platform for rapid reconfiguration, enabling scalability to accommodate future programs, emerging technologies, and evolving teaching methods.
Learning on Show
In conjunction with the stakeholder group, Spowers developed a series of design principles that helped shape the project outcomes.
A key principle was ensuring that training environments were visually accessible, to showcase hands-on learning to visitors, students, industry, and the broader community. The open environment also responds to and encourages gender equity and participation, aligning with Holmesglen Institute’s Gender Equity Action Plan.
Further ‘learning on show’ was enabled through the implementation of the services infrastructure, which puts the building’s technical systems on display.
The teaching and learning environments, including the elevated sandpit, mobile training bays, welding bay, and plumbing tower, have improved sightlines and safety whilst facilitating collaboration.
