Pre-School Campus – Springfield Convent School
Springfield Convent School, new Pre-School Campus
2009-2011
Project Team:
Client: Springfield Convent School
Contractor: Habitat Decorators
QS: Simpson Heath Quantity Surveyors
Landscape Architect: TKLA
Structural Engineer: Meny-Gibbert and Associates
Electrical Engineer: B2A Consulting Engineers
Context and Brief:
The property on which the Springfield Convent School campus is situated, is owned by the Dominican Sisters who live on the property, and maintain a strong connection with the School.
A Framework plan was undertaken by us for the School, in conjunction with Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architects, and Design Studio The intention of this planning process was to identify spatial informants which would influence any future development of the site.
The existing Pre-School was no longer meeting the evolving educational and physical needs of the School. The requirement was to create a sub-campus of buildings within the main campus. The types of new facilities required to enhance the existing were additional classroom space with a good connection to outdoor play areas, a staff facility, an Activity Hall with kitchen and cloakrooms, and an aftercare facility, also with connections to outdoor space.
Intention:
The initial conceptual thinking was firmly embedded in the framework thinking and, as with most of our projects, it was essential to work closely from the beginning with Tarna Klitzner from TKLA, as the building and landscaping was integral to each other.
An opportunity to firmly ground and connect this sub-campus within the main campus in the form of a connecting ‘street’, transforming an existing 4m slope (that acted to exclude the Pre-School from the rest of the Junior School Campus), was explored.
The existing stone building, known as St Anne’s and built in 1895, was a primary informant for the placement and character of the new intervention. The more intricate nature of the older campus buildings defined the nature of the relationship between the new built form and landscaped elements, as opposed to the character of the newer Junior School buildings.
Both the landscape and the buildings recognise the scale of the child, as well as the seriousness of play as learning.