The Resource Centre at Trinity Gardens Primary School transformed a previously disconnected part of the grounds into a new heart for the school – a transformation made possible by the BER program and an innovative design by Adelaide-based Khab Architects.
The Building the Education Revolution (BER) was an Australian government program administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) designed to provide new and refurbished infrastructure to all eligible Australian schools as part of an economic stimulus package in response to the 2007-2010 global financial crises.
The Resource Centre design by Khab Architects expresses optimism and enthusiasm through its materiality, colour, and form – celebrating the diversity found in this unique school.
This was not a stand-alone building.
So it was hard to photograph and difficult to encapsulate.
It pulls together fragments – literally the brick fragments of the previous Resource Centre and the ad-hoc surrounding buildings – and sits on a bumpy and sporadic timeline of public development.
From these limits, the building has reached well beyond the challenges of a BER project in a public school.
Khab’s brief was to provide an accessible library and series of associated learning and staff spaces, for a rapidly growing school – a unique school which hosts two learning streams – Main stream and Steiner stream, a Special Needs unit for children with disabilities, an Early Learning Centre and a high number of children from non-English speaking backgrounds.
There had been years of piecemeal development on the campus. That meant that Khab’s brief was forced into a site footprint and a vacuum left by the lack of master-planning.
The opportunity was to use the building and external spaces not only to inspire children, but to bring cohesion into the built environment at the centre of the school.
Khab’s design optimises the limited space available, and stitches the fragments of the school.
The surrounding verandas are dynamic and lively and are about opening – reaching out and stitching in.
They connect and include.
The building exerts confidence balanced by the scale and whimsy of the children who use it.
Sustainability is seen through both climatic response, and through long-term use and adaptation.
Remnants of the previous building are incorporated.
The building collects its water into eight tanks for use in toilets and for the adjacent kitchen garden.
Natural light fills the internal spaces.
Atypically for public school buildings, louvers are used for genuine cross ventilation, and the building is clad with insulated wall panels.
The deep verandas’ shade and offer generous outdoor space.
Under these verandas, school life happens – activated, protected spaces that overlap with a difficult and existing flood path that skirts the building.
In spite of suffocating public school design guidelines this building finds a playful spirit.
The undulating plywood landscape on the Library ceiling that climbs up to sky views suggests possibility and the beyond.
On a project that frequently seemed characterised by rules and limitations, Khab’s design was still able to ask, “What is the lid we put on learning?”
Project Details
Completion date – 2011
Building levels – 1
Project Team
Architecture
Khab Architects
Khab Architects is an Adelaide-based architecture practice enthusiastic about the work we do. Directors Kirsty Hewitt and Adam Brown run the practice and work on a range of type and scale of projects, from residential to commercial and institutional.
Construction
Camco SA
Camco (SA) Pty Ltd is an Adelaide based civil engineering company which has been operating since 2001. Founded by Director, Chis Goold, Camco has a firm grounding in the South Australian building community and has a solid working relationship with many state and local government departments, utility providers, and developers.
Photography
Adam Brown
Adam is a Director of Khab Architects, in partnership with Kirsty Hewitt.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2020 Khab Architects. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2020 Adam Brown. All Rights Reserved.
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