St Brigid’s Primary School
Raymond Terrace, NSW (2009)
Children do seem to be much more sensitive to their surrounds than adults. In primary schools, the built environment can really affect behavior. Some kids refuse to use school toilets because they are too scary!
This sensitivity provides an opportunity in architecture to create a school setting that might help kids feel more secure and comfortable and also maybe inspire a bit of day dreaming…
In this school, we’ve centered the learning spaces on a cloistered, formal court with a high overhead vine canopy. It’s the transition area coming in from the noisy playground before going inside. I like the idea of a little person looking up to the canopy high above and dappled light falling on the paving below. In the court there’s a bean shaped grass mound that rises out of the paving in a sort of challenge to the strict order.
The geometry used in the design provides order but within that there is variety and perhaps a little intrigue.
Client: Catholic Schools Office
Area: 773 m2 (FECA + UCA)
Cost: A$1,502,285
Cost/m2: A$1,943
Builder: Belkin Commercial
Structural Engineer: Lewis Engineering
Electrical Engineer: Electrical Projects Australia
Hydraulic Engineer: Hydrotech
Landscape Design: Mim Woodland