Kaurna
South Australia
The Antonio Catholic School Upper Primary Building exemplifies how the best educational architecture utilises thoughtful design and careful engineering to solve site complexities, communicate welcome and demonstrate strong contextual relationship.
In a striking new two-storey public face for the school, a waveform steel roof canopy rests atop outsized, Y-shaped steel columns, mirroring a towering, neighbouring eucalypt. This gesture in biomimicry settles the building into its landscape. The vast, rigid span also maximised budget, avoiding costly, additional secondary steel.
An awkwardly sloping site was the chief complexity. Painstaking groundwork and a slimline steel floor decking system solved the problem of constrained floor heights. In contrast to its predecessor, the building achieves full DDA compliance on all sides.
Indoors, calm green finishes, acoustic panelling and ample nooks ensure a building that is quiet and focused on learning. At strategic junctions, subtle cruciform strip lighting illuminates and reminds of the shared community mission.
Our beautiful new Upper Primary Building at Antonio Catholic School better connects us to our community and to the natural environment.
The design had an instant effect on the way we all teach and learn together. Classrooms and breakouts are quiet and flexible, supporting focused lessons and calm gatherings.
The “Think Tanks”, or intervention rooms, enable targeted instruction and study without interruption. This is being reflected in improving results for our students who require additional support.
We love how even the smallest of nooks support quiet activities, and design elements like the illuminated crosses remind us daily of our mission.
John Held, Project Director
Jessica Weiland, Project Architect
Georgie Jackman, Architect
Maddy Orrell, Graduate of Architecture
William Harbison, architect
Gama Consulting, Structural Engineer
Lucid Consulting, Services Consultant
Oxigen, Landscape Consultant
Chris Sale Consulting, Quantity Surveyor