New South Wales
Regional
Yanco Agricultural High School (YAHS) has built a new female boarding house to replace the temporary buildings used since the school became co-educational in 1995. The new building will accommodate 86 female students and two accessible staff apartments. The design prioritizes equity, safety, environmental responsiveness, and value for money.
The dormitory respects the school’s heritage and agricultural context. The building’s orientation maximizes natural light and minimizes heat, enhancing operational efficiency and reliance on air-conditioning. A vast veranda provides covered outdoor space and a backyard to this home-away-from-home.
Collaborations with students, contractors, consultants, schools and SINSW has proved the success of this regional project. The generosity and refinement inherent to the design has delivered a homely building to be proud of in this important regional schools
The new Yanco Agricultural High School (YAHS) female boarding house is a bold and generous new building that promotes equity within the regional school.
In a decisive move, the siting of the new boarding house is at a striking angle to the otherwise orthogonal grid of existing school buildings. This strategy enables several key outcomes: passive surveillance of the roadway, connection to its exterior environment, and the protected western covered courtyard provides valuable shelter to people and to the façade.
The program includes 86 boarders who are accommodated in predominantly east-facing dormitories, allowing for the students to wake up to the morning light.
The agriculturally-inspired form of the building is deftly handled, broken down using colour and materials, both internally and externally, lending generosity and refinement to this home away from home.
The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters, and skies of the continent now called Australia.
We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.