"Back to the drawing board"...This is what I have...

After metres and metres of white trace.....

The image below developed.

There is something about the section at the base of the drawing (the large piece which juts out) that i dislike...i followed my earlier inspiration of a boomerang shape, and developed it further. There will be barely any walls which divide classes, there are large learning area which open on to outdoor learnings and collaborative learning spaces.

Below is an image between the two spaces it opens up into a courtyard which is an outdoor learning space and there is also a outdoor area which has stepped seating areas.

The Stepped seating area

Form Idea

Over head form layout

Photographs of Strawbale Buildings...

Below is an building which is built on the South Coast

Only sections of the walls are created by the Strawbale construction, i really like the effect that is created by this. The large windows allow a lot of light to enter the space. Ventilation could be incorporated into this design.

Below are images of a house in Wallan

I really like the window ledge created by the wall thickness, this space could be used by people sitting to read a book or simply sit in the sun.

The images below are of the Murto P-12 School

I really like this feature, it allows people to see whats in the wall and what is happening inside.

Strawbale Inspiration...

Straw is a waste product–it’s what’s left after grain is harvested — it is a renewable resource, grown annually. It’s also extremely energy efficient. Testing indicates that a two-foot-thick bale has an insulation rating (R-value) that beats a standard wood frame wall insulated with R-19 batts by a factor of nearly three.

The Waldorf School students in the Roaring Fork Valley of western Colorado, is one of the first schools in the United States to use this form of construction. The building hosts five classrooms as well as administrative offices, bathrooms, and ample storage. Each classroom has south-facing windows for passive solar gain, and a light shelf and skylights for natural daylighting. Overhangs and an east-west building orientation prevent overheating and optimize solar gain. The school has hydronic radiant floor backup heat, and is plumbed for solar hot water collectors. The use of old growth wood was minimized by using Parallam posts, glue-lam beams, truss joists, and prefabricated trusses. The walls in between the classrooms have recycled cotton insulation for soundproofing. The ceiling is insulated with R-50 recycled fiberglass. The straw-bale walls also act as an excellent sound barrier

Information sourced from: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/passive-solar-straw-bale-school.html

Torquay Middle School Campus Site Visit

So after the master critique, i decided that some extra help was required for the design of these flexible learning spaces. I went on a site visit with Pam Kinsman of the Torquay Middle School Campus which is currently under-construction. This school has been designed with the flexible learning environment in mind. It was very interesting to have a walk around the site and the seen how this space would. Pam explained where everything was and how it would work. This site visit was very useful, it allowed me to see how this flexible learning environment would work. 

Below are some images i took on the site to Torquay Middle school Campus.

The space above is a large flexible learning area, these areas are said to hold 80 to 90 children. The windows and the door in the background lead to a outdoor learning area. This space will be carpeted and used for most of the teaching of the children.

High Skylights increase the light which enters the space.

Very high ceilings in these spaces.

This leads to an outdoor learning area

This is another open flexible learning area which leads to an outdoor learning space. You can see that lots of windows are used and bring in the daylight and give views from the classrooms.

The exposed trusses were undesired however using the trusses reduced the cost of construction keeping in check with the budget.

One other thing observed from the visit to the Torquay Middle School Campus was that the teachers offices/areas had many windows which are used for supervision purposes.

There is a disabled toilet which doubles as a staff toilet. From what Pam was saying it appears that maybe the toilets located in the building are only for staff, and that students would go to the student block.

Master Critique...

Master Critique....hmmmm!!

So...after today the decision has been made...."Back to the Drawing Board!"

The biggest thing i think I'm struggling with in this project is the notion of teaching in these large open spaces. I'm struggling to see how the senior students who will complete VCE which is quite a structured environment in these open flexible learning spaces.

I guess i have 2 weeks to work that out now!

Project 3 Design

After metres and metres of white trace this is what I have...

Below are images of the design i have been working on. My idea incorporated 30 classrooms however all the interior walls folded away to give a multi-purpose space. The chairs and desks are all relocatable and their position in the plan is merely to denote a possible layout for classrooms but the layout is totally up to the teacher. All classrooms are located on the ground so there is no access issues for wheelchairs etc.

My design replies heavily on environmental aspects, i.e. ventilation of the space and daylighting of the classrooms. The stack on the building does this beautifully, allowing natural daylight to enter the room and reflect back into the space off the wall (hence giving the space diffused light). The stack also ventilates the spaces by the simple method of stack ventilation, which is where cool air enters the space via windows and the hot air rises to the highest point and is pushed of the space.

The primary structure of the design is a Portal frame, i am looking into a timber portal frame (to reduce the embodied energy which steel uses). The exterior is cladded in different species of timber, this is to give the building a little more appeal than just one species of timber (This aspect can be seen in the inspiration i have collected and posted in previous blogs).

Daylighting and ventilation has been a very important aspect of my design, as well as functionality.

Project 3: A Sustainable School - Inspiration

After the review the other week, Alex, Ash and I broke our masterplan into 3 parts and we are each looking at different part to design. We are refining our masterplan together and gather inspiration for the design of our buildings, which will have similar characteristics.

After doing some researching of image on the net I found the following images, which had elements i liked.