The Woodleigh Regenerative Futures Studio is a productive, living ecosystem that provides a dynamic, project-based learning environment for students to explore and address these challenges while growing rooftop native gardens, harvesting solar power, cultivating fish in aquaponics tanks, sequestering carbon dioxide, and filtering pollutants in a net-zero building.

Set on a sloping site on the outskirts of the senior campus, the Futures Studio comprises three pavilions linked by courtyards and sheltered learning areas, which frame views of the farm, nature reserve, and school campus.

Each pavilion houses a separate function and aspect of the brief. The largest houses a collection of five learning spaces and two quiet learning pods, offering a range of flexible learning settings for personalisation and student agency. A second pavilion houses staff areas and amenities, while the third serves as the ‘homestead’, a communal kitchen and social space shared between students and staff, fostering a sense of belonging and community.

The building’s innovative construction system combines a prefabricated steel truss post and beam frame with straw wall and ceiling panels, recycled cork façade spray, and a living green roof, complete with a drought-resilient wicking bed. The system is unitised as prefabricated components, which, when combined with local procurement, has produced a near zero-waste construction system.

The Durra Panel straw panels are embedded with biochar to filter pollutants from the air. The green roof provides a protected habitat that fosters the lifecycles of native butterflies, birds, and bees, while its thermal mass and soil weight significantly reduce the need for mass concrete footings.

The building is run entirely on solar power, utilising an Australian-made battery storage system that is completely recyclable, as are all the materials used throughout the project. In addition, VOC-free, low-embodied carbon and carbon sequestering are at the forefront of all design and material choices.

Photography by Earl Carter