The St. Clare Performing Arts Centre at Padua College

Padua College is a large Catholic co-educational secondary school in Victoria, Australia. Charcoalblue were engaged as Theatre consultants for Stage 2 of the College’s Masterplan, which involved a brand-new Performing Arts Centre for the Mornington campus, which provides for over 2,400 students from across the Mornington Peninsula.

The new Performing Arts Centre is made up of a number of teaching and performing spaces, as well as change facilities and music practice rooms. Charcoalblue are part of the team that designed a flexible creative theatre space with a capacity of 300 that has the ability to transform quickly from teaching format to show mode through retractable seating and mechanical decking while achieving a number of different seating configurations. Drama/Movement and Music Performance classrooms capable of hosting both informal performances and stage student exams are also incorporated in the building design.

A key consideration Charcoalblue made throughout design and consultation is to ensure all spaces, particularly the auditorium, are supported by a good level of technical infrastructure and user-friendly for students who are interested in developing their technical production skills.

The Centre supports Padua’s extensive pool of performing arts students and ensures they have a space to learn, create and perform.