South Melbourne Park Public School

A vibrant color scheme employing Desso carpet tiles and Tarkett vinyl has helped bring a sense of playfulness to the Award-winning South Melbourne Park Primary School.

Set amongst generous natural grounds in Albert Park Reserve, South Melbourne Park Primary School in Victoria has repurposed two heritage buildings – the Albert Park Signal Depot and Drill Hall – and also built a new state-of-the-art learning block. With the goal of achieving harmony between the new and old buildings, the client, Department of Education and Training – Victorian School Building Authority, engaged architecture and integrated design practice, Gray Puksand. Tasked with respectfully placing their designs into unique heritage surrounds, Gray Puksand developed a color scheme that is sympathetic to the existing red brick buildings and would also stimulate the young students.

When selecting colors for the school’s flooring Gray Puksand favored a range of Desso carpet tiles and Tarkett resilient flooring in oranges, pinks and purples, and explained the color psychology behind the palette selections; with the color orange radiating warmth and happiness, pink promoting compassion and nurturing, and purple stimulating imagination.

Tarkett flooring products, comprised of 2300m2 Desso carpet tiles and 1380m2 Tarkett vinyl sheet flooring, were used throughout South Melbourne Park Primary School’s interiors in both the refurbishment of the existing heritage buildings and throughout the new learning building.

Tarkett resilient sheet flooring was specified for wet areas where considerations such as slip-rating, imperviousness, maintenance and durability came into consideration. “Durability is especially important given the high foot-traffic in a school environment,” said Ms Piggford “The flooring needs to be able to stand up to wear and tear, be heavy duty with maintenance and cleanability being important considerations over the flooring’s lifecycle. Tarkett’s flooring products feature sustainability credentials such as GreenTag Level A certification and low-VOC emission.