Events · Partnerships · 2026
Inside Meriden's DaCA Building: A Learning Tour with LEA NSW and ASBA NSW
How a purpose-built creative arts facility brought two industry chapters together to explore design, sustainability and the environments that shape how young people learn.
Tucked into Meriden Senior School's established inner-city campus, serving a community drawn from 230 postcodes, the Design and Creative Arts, or DaCA, Building was conceived with a clear purpose: to give senior students a dedicated place to make, experiment, create and display.
The building brings together the school's visual arts, textiles and design technology programs in a series of spaces designed for the realities of creative learning. It accommodates the hands-on, often messy and iterative nature of making, while maintaining the calm and considered atmosphere that defines the Meriden campus.
Walk through the building and its purpose is immediately apparent. Sculptural in form and finished in a warm, natural material palette, the DaCA Building uses passive design principles to support thermal comfort and connects its levels through a series of indoor studios and outdoor learning spaces. Light, texture and views have been carefully considered, creating an environment designed to support both creativity and student wellbeing. The result has attracted industry recognition, making the building a fitting case study for this event.
More importantly, the project reflects a broader commitment by Meriden to creativity and design thinking as essential parts of a contemporary education. The DaCA Building is a significant addition to the school's 127-year history, providing students with dedicated spaces to explore ideas, develop practical skills and collaborate across creative disciplines.
“In an increasingly complex world, we need young women who can think differently, who can see possibilities when others see problems.”
Mrs Lisa Brown, Meriden Principal
From digital design to traditional and contemporary art, the building gives students the space and tools to explore their imagination and turn ideas into tangible outcomes.
In that sense, the DaCA Building is more than a gallery and specialist learning facility. It is a physical expression of Meriden's belief that education should prepare young women not only for academic achievement, but for lives of creativity, purpose, leadership and service.
Why LEA NSW and ASBA NSW hosted this together
LEA NSW Chapter and ASBA NSW Chapter joined forces for the event because the DaCA Building offered something relevant to both communities. LEA brings a focus on learning environments and how places can support education, while ASBA brings the perspective of those responsible for the operational, financial and strategic stewardship of schools.
Bringing these perspectives together created an opportunity to look at the project through a broader lens, not only the architecture, but how decisions around sustainability, investment, planning and learning ultimately contribute to the life of a school.
It was also simply a chance to get our two communities in the same room. Whether your day-to-day is shaping learning environments or managing the many demands of a school, the DaCA Building offered something to learn from, and an afternoon of shared learning, discussion and networking across both chapters allowed those different perspectives to come together around a real project.
What happened on the day
Using the DaCA Building as a case study, the event looked beyond the building itself to explore themes relevant across education projects: sustainability, planning, design excellence and how we can make more considered use of the resources and places available to us. Attendees heard from the project team and from Meriden's own school leadership, before walking the building itself.
Presentations came from:
- Lucy Sutton (Bates Smart), on sustainability and circular economy in the built environment, and what it means for schools.
- Sarah Horsfield (Urbis), with an update on key NSW planning reforms affecting schools, alongside lessons learned from the planning and approval of the DaCA Building.
- Buildcorp, event sponsor, on the benefits of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and how bringing construction expertise into the process earlier can help identify delivery risks, test buildability, streamline project delivery and provide greater confidence around project costs.
- Alan Duffy (Architectus), on the architectural vision behind the DaCA Building, including its response to context, learning and creativity.
- Gillian Legge (Meriden), Head of Design and Creative Arts, on how the building supports teaching, learning and student outcomes.
Following the presentations, attendees were taken on a guided tour of the DaCA Building, seeing first-hand how the ideas discussed throughout the afternoon have been realised within a working school environment. From passive design and material selection to the relationship between indoor and outdoor learning spaces, the tour provided an opportunity to experience the building through both a design and an educational lens.
Most importantly, hearing directly from Meriden provided insight into how the spaces are being used by students and staff, bringing the conversation back to the people these environments are ultimately created for.
