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Have you tried to future-proof this project?
Some of the environmentally sustainable drivers we've
built into this go beyond how it functions. We have thought
beyond those five to ten years when the demands of the
centre will change. Adjustments will need to be made.
Critical to that is disassembly. We've considered areas like
the kindergarten. In ten years, the demand for a kindergarten
here will be so much less. Those areas are designed to be
disassembled, with bolt fixings and no welding or visible
fixings on the timber or metal cladding. At any point that
side of the building can be disassembled and those products
renewed and used elsewhere.
How successful is the process of collaboration without
becoming bogged down in a committee?
Inviting too many people to that process can be challenging,
and really, it's about listening, which takes a great deal of
time and patience. There’s a need to be quite clear and firm.
We had a very clear vision for this building and allowed for
certain aspects of it to have very clear and direct input from
other parties. In that, you enable this idea of ownership and
authorship, and achieving that balance is challenging, but
when it's realized, it's highly rewarding.
One of the things glazing does,
certainly in the kindergarten,
is to give them a very direct
connection to their outdoor
spaces. Often kindergarten
spaces can be quite insular
and probably not as outward
looking as they could be.
JEFF GABRIEL, ARCHITECT