A Primary Centre for the Community

Abstract

Schools have the potential to be the social and cultural centre for the community as they contain many of the facilities needed by their communities (such as a hall, swimming pool,gymnasium and library). The current duplication of resources between the two causes the available funding to be stretched thinly between them. Although programmatically this consolidation makes sense, the design of the New Zealand school restricts this evolution through both a lack of physical and cultural continuity with its community.

Physically, the harsh boundary line of the school expresses to the community that they are not welcome within its fenced confines and culturally, the connotations surrounding the school building type dissuade members of the community from entering and utilising its facilities. A method of design led research was utilised to explore these ideas through the use of precedent and theoretical studies driven by design strategies (such as modelling and site and formal studies).

Local Wellington primary schools such as Newtown, Brooklyn and Amesbury School highlight these issues. These schools have physically discontinuous relationships with their communities due to the use of tall metal and wooden fences, the layout of the school buildings and the use of tall, lockable gates. Cultural discontinuity is formed as the architecture of the traditional school type dissuades the community from entering the site.

International precedents such as Fuji Kindergarten, Rolex Learning Centre and School at Ivry create physical continuity through creating strong visual connections between the facility and the community, having multiple, easily accessible entrances to the facility and the inclusion of retail and restaurant space at ground level to form a permeable boundary. Cultural continuity is achieved through the creation of a form which varies from the traditional institution type, creating a sense of ambiguity and universality about its purpose which draws the community into the facility.

Theoretical research offers an insight into how the ideas of physical and cultural continuity are being explored through literature and in practise. The members of the De Stijl Movement, Mies van der Rohe and Sanaa explore the idea of physical continuity through trying to disintegrate and manipulate the idea of the boundary. Bernard Tschumi, Rem Koolhaas, Mies van der Rohe and Shuhei Endo create cultural continuity through either cross-programming or the formation of a universal aesthetic; both of these strategies break down the programmatic stereotypes which influence the creation of a buildings overall form to welcome a range of user groups into their facility.

The final proposal presented for Newtown School utilises this research to create a school which incorporates community spaces, school facilities and residential housing within a form which does not reflect one program type over another. The school has clear entrance points and a permeable boundary line which seeks to create strong visual links between itself and the community. The final design proposal promotes a strong sense of physical and cultural continuity between the school and the Newtown community.