New curved technology block gives
students the edge from Futurebuild
Peddle Thorp Architects (Hamilton)
are linked to a multinational partnership of architects
with offices in Australia, South East Asia and in
the UK. Each partnership is an independent business
with their own focus and specialities. The Hamilton
studio, where architect Mike Angelo is based, has
developed an extensive portfolio of educational
buildings throughout the Waikato region. Renovations
to Peachgrove Intermediate in Hamilton East is a
recent project, in which Angelo added an extra storey
to an existing classroom block and an extra space
for innovative young minds.
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There are many school projects around
at the moment, for both builders and architects.
Angelo explains the phenomenon: "The work never
stops. Many schools in the Waikato were built in
the 40's and 50's and need to be updated. Enrolments
are increasing, cities are growing."
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Peachgrove Intermediate is on the
main arterial through Hamilton East. The school
is for those students 10 to13 years of age who,
in New Zealand, do intermediate studies before they
move on to high school. It is a preparation time,
getting students accustomed to being in different
classes for different studies.
This school was built in the 40's
and had an aging technology block. This four classroom
block is at the front of the school and is highly
visible from the main arterial so the school wanted
it to look its best. The classrooms are used to
introduce the students to various areas - food technology;
woodwork; metal work; and soft materials. Other
than an improvement to the building, the brief was
to add a digital projection room and a central design
room, that is a gathering place off the four separate
classrooms where ideas could be exchanged, projects
developed and research done before moving on to
the hands-on workshops.
Angelo developed the curved room,
one long suite, to be the central linking element
on the ground floor by extending a new top storey
out two metres. The long suite creates direct visual
links to the rest of the building with the top storey
addition housing the digital projection room. This
was stage one, with the refurbishment of the existing
classrooms as stage two.
The additional top storey has a
barrel vault design, which was aimed at adding a
digital projection room for the students, without
adding too much height to the building visually.
The original building had a flat roof. The new plan
straddles the old roof using steel portal legs and
Hyspan® as the floor between. To form the barrelled
roof, Hyspan was used for its long straight spans
and to help to create the curve of the roof easily.
The Hyspan members were not curved but supported
the curved structure. "It was really very simple,"
he says, "I could have done it myself." Though he
suggests the builder might not have agreed to that.
Commenting on using the futurebuild®
engineered building products and supporting software,
Angelo says: "I have used Hyspan a lot prior to
this. Builders find it stays straight and easy to
cut and handle on-site and from our point of view
there are the big long spans, which you need for
classrooms. We also use designIT® software in
the office. I see that software as a model for how
these things should work - it is very easy to use.
We get a lot of software which just stays on the
shelf, whereas designIT works well."
Hyspan features not only in the
roof of the top storey but also over the ground
floor extension and the curved verandah walkway.
The extended Hyspan beams in combination with bold
use of primary colour and glass has modernised the
face of the block.
The Hyspan is also a key design
feature in the interior. The Hyspan beams are semi-exposed
as purlins, curved exposed ribs in the ceiling and
painted white in the barrel vault section through
to the ground floor extension. They are deep beams
of 450 x 63 millimetres but only a small part of
the sections are showing with the remainder framed
in by acoustic tiles. These were required because
the room will be used for digital projection and
presentations.
The digital projection room is part
of the current push at the school for technical
proficiency in these areas. Peachgrove has been
moving rapidly into the digital world and now has
a new principal who is also driving the school in
that direction. The students all have electives
now that involve the use of advanced computer skills.
It seems that there is also movement
forward in the area of school design and architecture.
Architects like Peddle Thorp are needed to bring
the buildings themselves into the 21st Century in
terms of both the innovative spaces created and
the materials and methods used on the project.
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