The Patch Primary School | Craig Tan Architects

The Patch Primary School is set within a lush, sloping landscape, offering students a nature-immersed learning environment – a ‘Classroom of Nature’. Craig Tan Architects developed a sensory masterplan that unifies buildings and outdoor spaces, supported by a new Learning Hub and Arts Centre. A nature-led design integrates accessibility, landscape and learning through gently meandering ramps, inclusive outdoor rooms and pedagogical landscapes designed by Simon Ellis Landscape Architects.

The Learning Hub provides four classrooms and activates communal in-between spaces, while the Arts Centre is embedded downslope, engaging the amphitheatre and gardens. Both buildings use robust, low-maintenance materials suited to high bushfire risk and feature passive design strategies such as shading and cross-ventilation. Indigenous artwork by Wurundjeri artist Hayden Roberts enriches the sensory experience.

Together, the buildings and landscape strengthen the school’s connection to nature, enhance inclusive learning, and have been warmly embraced by the community.