St Thomas the Apostle Primary School: Kambah

St Thomas the Apostle Primary School, Kambah was an old school that was rabbit warren of internal rooms, leaving no access to outside apart from the main entrances.

The schools new pedagogy was being interpreted in the creation of flexible,light-filled, open learning spaces that allowed collaborative activity between classrooms and class groups.

We master-planned the entire school, scoping the project to be done in two stages which allowed the school to remain in occupation during construction.

All internal closed in rooms were demolished, leaving an external shell supported by steel columns, opening the interior right up.

New classroom spaces were created with the use of sliding glass walls that could be closed or opened up to join classrooms and allocate central meeting places.

All internal skylights were converted into solar chimneys to purge warm air at night. All external windows were removed and replaced with double glazed sliding units for access to new garden meeting places and to encourage connections with the natural landscape.

Internal columns and brickwork are detailed with sounds absorbing pinboards and cladding to create a warm and child-friendly environment, while the use of patterned coloured glass cast colours of dappled light through the hallway.

Old crack concrete was removed and replaced with garden nooks edged with seating rocks and central shaded trees.

We enjoyed superintending the entire project with the help from local artists, craftsmen and tradespeople.

The finely crafted timber entry was completed by Gino Monteleone from Select Custom Joinery, with accents of coloured glass by Elizabeth Kelly from Tangerine Glass Studio.

TOK finished the rest of the carpentry, while R and F were in charge of construction management.

All of the effort, management and design allowed the building to win BER RAIA Education Prize of the year in 2011.