A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

Design for a Post-Primary SchoolKingswood, Tallaght 2012

ARPL - STAGE 2 COMPETITION BOARDS

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

COMMMENDED - STAGE 1de Paor Architetcs

Gilroy McMahon NPS GROUPKMD Architecture

SHORTLISTEDMichael Kelly, Achitect

BDPGraft on Architects

2ND PLACE (joint)Coady Partnership Architects

de Blacam & Meagher Architects

WINNERARPL Architects

Awarded Entries

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

Site Overview & Strategy

A R 1 0 1

HUB TEACHING MODEL SCHOOL/ CITY CITY/ SCHOOL

enhanced class

general class

general class

general class

general class

special tuition

special tuition

lockers

TEACHING HUB

enhanced class

general class

general class

general class

general class

special tuition

special tuition

lockers

social and breakout areas

TEACHING HUB

enhanced class

general class

general class

general class

general class

special tuition

special tuition

lockers

TEACHING HUB

MAIN SOCIAL/ DINING CORE

changing room

changing room

fitness

staff/store toilets

PE hall

Science Art/ HE/ Dress design

SENS

SPECIALIST TEACHING

staff

pupil support

library music servery kitchen meeting

lecture room

admin

SUPPORT

entrance

PHYSICAL EDUCATION FACILITY

PUBLIC ACCESS AREAS

Technical

SCHOOL/ CITY CITY/ SCHOOL

ADAPTABLE FOR DIFFERENT SITES

SCHOOL AS A SMALL CITY

One thousand pupils is the equivalent of a small community. They are not a single block of people but are a collection of small groups and individuals of different ages, interests and friendships.

Our proposals lays out the school as a small town plan with its main public faciltities of library, hall and music room fronting onto the town square, small village greens offering light and greenery and a network of lanes and alleyways giving access to the collections of classrooms and social spaces.

A Hub Model

The traditional model of a post primary school involves rigid inter-subject separation, students moving to teachers and underused assembly and circulation spaces. This subject based arrangement creates a poor sense of belonging with its inherent problems of scale.

The model we have chosen to design is based on pupil hubs as small schools within a school. 60 -70% of a pupils time is spent in general classrooms. This design seeks to give a sense of identity and a more manageable scale by grouping these general classrooms around small social spaces with their own support spaces, lockers and pastoral care spaces.

These clusters form the key elements of the school day.

Specialist teaching spaces which require additional equipment is then grouped with science, art, technical and physical education all given their own location.

The core of the school is the central dining and social space. Arranged as a village square the central space is accessed from all parts of the school.

The PE, social and staff support spaces are all grouped around the core and entrance to allow full community use of these key facilities without members of the public encroaching on the teaching spaces.

The resulting model building has a clear circulation pattern for each small building cluster with direct routes back to the shared heart of the building.

FLEXIBLE STRUCTURES

The flexibility lies in two areas

the number of repetitive components

and the configuration of components

These two variables allows designs to be developed for schools of differnent sizes by increasing or decreasing the number of key compnents used.

Similarly by setting the kit of parts on different grid configurations layouts can be developed for different site types. The strategy allows for plans suited to square sites such as Kingswood or more linear type locations.

The potential use of the split level steps in the central space offers a potential solution for different site contouring.

The neutral grid and component approach to built form delivers this development flexibility.

hall square

theatre

green

lanes

music

library

A FLEXIBLE KIT OF PARTS KINGSWOOD STRATEGY

staff entrance

hard play courts

vehicle drop off

main entranceapproach

car parking

car parking

yard andstore

courtyardcourtyard

hard play

SENS garden

outdoor classrooms

fruit trees

wild grass

grass with wild flowers and bulbs

biodiversity area

outdoor soft play "rooms"

SITE PLAN 1:500

N

1

social and breakout areas

social and breakout areas

This conceptual strategic layout is not site dependent but is a flexible structure applicable to alternative sites. The regular grid layout can be adapted to different configurations of site with little impact on the strategic planning of the school. A truly adaptable concept for a programme of school building.

The key components are

- a square

- multiple hubs

- specialist teaching

all set on the regular grid.

This combination of a kit of parts in a structured layout can be applied to most sites of different shape and orientation.

This allows differnet design layouts to be developed for different schools and different sites.

The simple definition of front and back sets the initial structure for applying this solution to different locations.

formal frontage relates to public

informal playgroud elevation

views to landscape

noisy to quiet

landscape "rooms"

classrooms and playground benefit from sun

Kingswood "Kit of Parts" a central square 3 teaching hubs 2 banks of specialist classes PE and Dining Hall regular square grid

The outdoor rooms are defined by lines of fruit trees enclosing open meadows. Within each meadow grass, bulbs and wild flowers offer spaces of different identity through selective management of cut grass and uncut wild grasses and flowers.

Smaller formal sitting areas are created through the shaping of small retaining walls which modulate the site slope at key points

The careful scale of the resulting external spaces avoids the play areas becoming a scaleless expanse of open ground without extensive maintenance.

PLACES OF LEARNING - outdoor classrooms

SQUARE SITE

SMALLER SCHOOLS-FEWER COMPONENTS

LINEAR SITES

GRID VARIATIONS

POST PRIMARY SCHOOL, KINGSWOOD TALLAGHT

AERIAL VIEW FROM SOUTH EAST

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

A R 1 0 1

2

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:250

SOUTH WEST ELEVATION 1:250

Social/ beakout space

Social/ beakout space

Social/ beakout space

PLACES OF LEARNING - the central hall for the whole school

+78.15

+78.15

+79.65

+79.65

+79.55

+79.65

+80.35

+81.1

+80.25

+78.0

Ground Floor Plan & Southwest Elevation

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

A R 1 0 1

3

social/ breakout area

social/ breakout area

social/ breakout area

PLACES OF LEARNING - social and breakout space, first floor

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1:250

NORTH EAST ELEVATION 1:250

FLOOR PLAN ZONING

Main public spaces

General teaching

Specialist teaching

Staff and support

Circulation and social spaces

Each teaching hub has open social and breakout spaces at its heart. This combines working and sitting spaces with toilets, lockers and pastoral rooms. All these spaces benefit from daylighting through windows or rooflights

The classrom have openable sliding screen alongside the main room to door to offer an an option of alternative forms of teaching through semi open plan spaces.

Dining/ general purpose

FirstAid

First Floor Plan & Northeast Elevation

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

PERCENT FOR ART

- routes, paths and special places

The conceptual idea of the hubs as a basis for the organisation of the school is intended to give a sense of identity and scale to the pupils. This idea is to be reinforced by a colour and art strategy which gives a unique quality to each space.

Based on a rainbow range of colours we have formed four distinct colour palettes from blue/ purple through green/ turquoise yellow and red. Each cluster of spaces takes on a separate character easily identified within the structure of the school.

This colouring will be applied through the facade treatement, floor and wall finishes and hopefully will involve ceramic panels created between the artist and the pupils.

As pupils move through the school circulation a form of way finding defines routes and the special social places around the building. This identity carries through to the outside with elements of landscape and wild flowers being identified with each place.

The architecture, colour art and landscape all work to further the treatment of the building as an assembly of places rather than just a large schedule of accommodation.

A R 1 0 1

4

PLACES OF LEARNING - private study in pastoral rooms overlooking courtyards

CONSTRUCTION

- Prefabricated superstructure for speed of construction- no wet trades- precast concrete frame based on rigorous 7 metre grid throughout- precast finished floor structure - offsite fabricated timber external wall SIPS panels- pre-installed windows in SIS panels- limited standard window types- metal studwork internal walls

EXTERNAL FABRIC- lightweight dry finish materials- cedar board cladding- fibre cement coloured panels - pre-installed windows in SIS panels- limited standard window types- composite timber/ metal windows- single ply membrane roof

ROBUST PLINTH- concrete block plinth - protects lighter materials from damage and weathering

GENERAL CLASSROOM LOCKER SPACES

CROSS SECTION 1:50

CROSS SECTION 1:250- with existing levels

VENTILATION- high and low level opening vents in windows - high level ventilation through roflights

Sections & Images

A N R O I N N DEPARTMENT OF

OIDEACHAISAGUS SCILEANNA

EDUCATIONA N D S K I L L S

A R 1 0 1

5

PLACES OF LEARNING - social and breakout space, ground floor

SOUTH EAST ELEVATION 1:250

Aluminium/Timber Curtain Wall

Main Services distribution under first floor slab

Prefabricated Toilet Block

Precast Concrete Frame

Metal Stud Partition

Timber frame wall panel with windows pre-installed

Colour Panels

Timber Cladding

PC Floor Slab

Precast Columns

Precast Beams

ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY

- high levels of insulation- high thermal mass- natural ventilation via windows and high level vents- radiant panels ensure thermal comfort- shade from roof overhang and shelf louvre reduces overheating

LIGHTING STRATEGY

- even natural light from windows and rooflights- sensor controlled low energy light fittings- up and downlighting ensures glare free interiors

SOCIAL AND BREAKOUT SPACE

GENERAL CLASSROOM

PASTORAL ROOMS

MAIN CIRCULATION

MAIN CIRCULATION LANDSCAPED COURT MUSIC/ LIBRARY GENERAL PURPOSE / DINING HALL

CEILING MOUNTED MULTI SERVICE PANELS- combined radiant panel- low energy lighting- sprinkler head- acoustic panel

CEILING MOUNTED MAIN SERVICES DISTRIBUTION- heating flow and return- cold water service- sprinkler pipework- power- lighting- data

COURTYARD CLADDING- glazing system- coloured panels external wall infill

LARGE SPAN ROOFSdining and PE hall of- large span steel trusses- steel purlins- profiled metal decking- single ply roof on - insulation board

PREFABRICATION DIAGRAM

EXTERNAL MATERIALS

Materials have been chosen to deliver afunctional robust built fabric compatiblewith the ambition for a predominately drybuild construction.

The principal cladding materials combineto create a neutral framework of selfweathering t imber with window andcoloured panel assembl ies of fibrecement. The t imber is used to c ladapprox imate ly 25% of the externalelevations.

The colouring strategy allows for eachhub to have a different group of relatedcolours based on three colours to eachg r o u p . T h i s r a n g e o f c o l o u r s i sdeliverable using standard panels colours.

A concrete plinth provides the lightermaterials with a robust base limitingdamage from impact and from water atground level.

This arrangement delivers a pattern andcolour palet te which re inforces thearchitectural concept of ident ifiableteaching clusters while providing a lowcost low maintenance solution.

CONSTRUCTION AND PREFABRICATION

The proposed structure and fabric of the school are aimed at a costefficient solut ion which offers the potential for acceleratedconstruction periods. The key to this is the use of prefabricated offsite manufacture of all key components combined with a non-wettrade approach to superstructure. To achieve this we haveconsidered the use of

- a precast concrete frame and slab based on a rigorous applicationof a 7.15 metre grid throughout. This grid is applied to all aspects ofthe school ensuring efficient modular manufacture. Steel frame willbe employed where larger spans are required to the gym hall andmain dining spaces

- External walls will be carried out in a prefabricated compositetimber Structurally Insulated Panel system. Consideration will begiven to the off site installation of windows and external finishes

- A limited range of window sizes will be employed to ensure efficientcost effective manufacture

- Internal walls and finishes will be of dry construction using metalstudwork with acoustic infill and high impact board finishes

- Clear services distribution routes are defined along the circulationgrid to allow easy installation and subsequent maintenance of mainservices.

MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

The design solution offers the potential for offsite modular construction for approximately 85%of the school area .

Initial discussion however suggested this will notmeet the required budget and there may beissues on detai led room dimensions. Weconsider there is scope for detailed discussion ifthe design is pursued.

FFL 78.15

FFL 79.65

FFL 83.15

Southeast Elevation & Main Section