MacGregor State High School – Music Classrooms

MacGregor State High School is rightly proud of its rich history of Instrumental and Vocal Music offering, which provides tuition to talented students in Years 7, 8 and 9 under the Music Excellence program.

This project involved a comprehensive refresh and update of the school’s existing ‘K block’ GLAs and music classroom – which was no longer fit for purpose – as well as updates to adjacent outdoor learning areas.

It involved a full refurbishment of the ground floor of the school’s performing arts building to address significant acoustic issues, which aimed to reduce noise transfer from music classrooms to other areas.

The brief also called for extensive new storage facilities for musical instruments and associated teaching supplies, and larger teaching and learning spaces.

As part of our signature visioning process, we worked closely with the school to better understand their specific needs around the performing arts curriculum, before developing a solution that specifically caters to the needs of the Music Excellence program.

We took time to fully understand what specific instruments and quantities needed to be accommodated in the various spaces, and then designed bespoke solutions to meet those requirements.

Our design solution also incorporated carefully considered acoustic treatment on walls, floors and ceilings, to mitigate against noise transfer while also creating inspiring interiors with bright pops of colour.

Furthermore, we approached the hallways between classrooms as an opportunity to showcase the history of MacGregor’s Music Excellence and performing arts programs, and to proudly display the school’s extensive collection of awards.

The outcome is a carefully considered bright, inspiring and creative space, which provides a fitting backdrop for the delivery of music programs across a range of genres including Rock, Film, Baroque & Beyond, Musicals, Jazz and Game Music.

These spaces teach and nurture young musicians, and provide them with the skills and confidence to perform in both solo and ensemble settings.

The adjacent outdoor learning area – with its new grassed terraced seating – provides a dynamic amphitheatre-style space for impromptu performances and social gatherings, turning the challenges of the sloped site into an advantage using clever design.