Brigidine College

Brigidine College operates as an independent Catholic girl’s high school located in St Ives, Sydney. The College in particular prides itself on being forward thinking and progressive especially in regard to women and women’s education, preparing young women for the future. Brigidine College opened a design competition to a selection of architects to design a masterplan concept for the school in order to continue to provide state of the art facilities and increase the range of courses offered to students.

After a successful competition entry, Fulton Trotter Architects were appointed to develop the masterplan and the initial stages of the project. The masterplan takes inspiration from the school motto fortiter et suaviter “Strength and Gentleness.” When walking around the existing College grounds, particularly in the College Green and around the Chapel one experiences a feeling of serenity and peacefulness. This feeling comes from the soft landscaping and gardens, a key feature of the College. The buildings themselves display a strong, edge to the exterior of the college, and open up to a serene and flowing interior with gentle curves, verandahs and covered break out spaces – creating flexible and diverse learning spaces.

Our design principles drew on these existing influences achieved with strong perimeter buildings opening up to the gentleness and connectivity of a softer interior edge.