New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 34/02C | Page 53

Left:Fins on the north face of
the building provide shading,
acoustic separation and evoke a
sense of outward connection.
are features of the building, and the latter helps
mitigate noise levels within the open spaces.
“Acoustic performance was a key functional
criteria for material selection in both the typi-
cal classrooms / breakout areas and specialist
music rooms,” says Hewlett-Diprose. “For exam-
ple, 50mm thick quiet-space panels are utilised
throughout the internal street in conjunction with
acoustic ceiling tiles. This was in recognition of
the proximity of noisier more collaborative focused
learning environments and the hard concrete and
brick surfaces of adjoining existing buildings.
Both the atrium and the internal street play
important roles in the wider school environment,
too. The atrium entry creates a new formal entry to
the school and is highly visible from Portland Road.
“By providing a clear new public address, the
building has a transparent school-to-community
connection,” says Hewlett-Diprose. “It offers
permeability into the life of the school through
street-facing architecture which is clear and inviting.”
There are no fences separating the community
from the Portland road entry, rather there is a series
of concrete platforms and seats with integrated
planting, the design navigating around an existing
mature Pohutakawa tree, inviting the community in.
Construction of the Centennial Building provided
the opportunity to return the adjacent Towers build-
ing to its original design, demolishing a late addition
that had linked across to the Hanna building, which
was replaced as part of this project. Now on arrival
at the school’s main entry, staff, students and visi-
tors encounter new site lines between buildings
which had previously abutted one another.
The history of the site is acknowledged with
reference to the original Hanna building through the
materiality and modulation of the north elevation of
the Centennial Building, the installation of the origi-
nal Hanna clock in the centre of the new building
and finally the use of recycled kauri rafters to form
the timber fins that provide a degree of enclosure to
breakout spaces within the internal street.
“The existing campus has a particular arrange-
ment and massing that confers a sense of ‘historical
gravitas’ across the site,” says Hewlett-Diprose.
“Our design approach has been to reinterpret the
sense of permanence, clarity and order in a less
formal way. The architecture of the new facility pro-
vides a clear structural rhythm that reinterprets the
order of the wider King’s School built environment.”
And now, for the first time, all the school’s buildings
are well connected. This was achieved by the use of
bridges linking the new facility to existing buildings,
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