TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

TafeNSW Eora Campus Recording Studio

Project Information/Data

Date : 2019-2020 (during COVID-19 lockdown)
Client : TafeNSW
Location: Darlington, Sydney, NSW (Cadigal)
Supercontext Team : Colette Hortle, Andrew Daly
Consultant Team : JHA Audio Visual, Renzo Tonin Acoustics
Built by : Verity Constructions
Awards : Shortlisted for NSW AIA Small Projects Award
Photography : Hamish McIntosh

TafeNSW Eora is an inclusive, all-welcome community education centre, focussed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and training. Based in Darlington, TAFE NSW Eora has been a centre of local creative energy for over 30 years in one of Sydney’s most diverse inner-city suburbs. The facilities are housed in a heritage shoemaking warehouse a short walk from Redfern Station.

Supercontext were commissioned to design the refurbishment of two existing rooms into a recording studio for teaching and recording for the local community and Tafe educational programs. The project involved significant acoustic measures as well as our client’s desire to create an inclusive, special space within the institution that all could feel welcome in and share their musical talents through.

The design of the two rooms employs a multi-coloured ceiling of acoustic tiles, fixed to a saw-tooth ceiling that breaks up reverberations within the room, including acoustic perforated plywood and plasterboard linings throughout. Plywood portal frames with recessed LEDs and track lights provide a range of atmospheres that the room can adopt, to accommodate a wide range of recording and teaching experiences. The walls are similarly serrated in their layout, creating a unique spatial quality and performative acoustic environment designed for optimal recording outcomes within the constraints of the original structure. In addition, teachers were provided with removable acoustic panels on a split-batten system that could be stored and applied to the walls of the recording spaces to further manage the acoustic environment of the space to suit changing recording requirements.