Christ Church Grammar Preparatory School With Architecture Studio

摘要

With Architecture Studio and its predecessor, Donaldson and Warn, have built up an extensive portfolio of educational projects at all levels, from preschool to tertiary. Of the primary and secondary schools the studio has worked with, two are historic private schools and two are new public schools. But densification in the face of an increasing student population is the overarching theme. There could be a monograph on this portfolio, but a focus on the architects' latest building at Christ Church Grammar School, currently educating more than 1,500 boys in the Perth suburb of Claremont, gives insights into their general approach. For more than 20 years, the masterplanning of this school has exercised the studio's architectural intelligence. The practice has tackled traffic congestion at the school gates and carved out a double-lobed open space in the centre of the school site. The lower "lobe", facing the Stirling Highway, is flanked by a swimming pool and contains playing fields. The upper one, which extends from the face of the chapel into a formal green space edged by the boarding houses, provides a lawn with spectacular views of the Swan River. Pursuing the campus vision, the architects have proposed deletions in the existing building stock, restored the dining hall and the architecturally significant chapel, made insertions between buildings to link the street and campus green space, and added new buildings. Within its deceptively simple rectangular form, the latest addition - a new preparatory (preschool to year six) block - reveals the studio's current approach to the densification of the campus.