Excelsior Primary School
An early ‘standard pattern’ project for the Department of Education, our brief for Excelsior Primary School in Perth’s eastern suburbs came with a strong ESD mandate.
The School embodies all the practical elements of an environmentally-friendly, sustainable school campus to accommodate a modern curriculum.
Client
Department of Finance on behalf of Department of Education
Location
Canning Vale, WA
Construction Value
$6.1m
Completed
December 2005
Carabiner Team
Project Director: David Karotkin
Project Leader and Architect: Paolo Basini
ll buildings were carefully configured and oriented to receive maximum winter sun and cooling summer breezes, while avoiding driving rain. This means buildings were positioned at a slight angle to the site boundaries.
The master-planning and detailed design of the educational spaces and circulation were carefully considered to provide a nurturing, safe and dynamic educational environment without compromising the passive and active environmental performance of the whole.
Our masterplan creates a main north-south axis, with the entrance to the school off the main thoroughfare, Shreeve Road. The site is bookended by the early years classroom block and administration building to the south, creating the frontage to main road and the pre-primary and kindergarten annex to the north. Two more classroom blocks sit along the western edge of the main axis. The library building and covered assembly area sit at the heart of the campus surrounded by central courtyards.
The innovative structural insulated panel roof system delivered both optimal environmental performance and structural efficiencies for each of the primary school buildings. Varied roof forms distinguish the civic buildings, like the administration and library buildings, from the classroom blocks and imbue the school with a striking aesthetic. The project was delivered on time and on budget ahead of the 2006 academic year.