KING EDWARD VII
PREPARATORY SCHOOL CLASS ROOMS
PREPARATORY SCHOOL - CONCEPT
King Edward VII Preparatory School is in need of a new classroom block and has approached StudioJoy+ Architects to propose a concept for the new Classrooms. The brief was to design a new classroom wing with three classrooms for the Prep including two offices, a multipurpose classroom space and two additional store rooms for the school.
The concept for the proposed building is rooted in bringing quality light into the classrooms and thus connecting the children to the natural world outside. The spatial qualities of the building vary from northern to southern areas as well as its different contextual conditions. These conditions being: 1. Public – the Louis Botha Avenue interface and 2. Private – the school play grounds and open spaces. North / North western walkways are designed to be open with colonnades and tall windows whilst the South / South Eastern facades turn their back to the street boundary and articulated to minimise sound and visual pollution in the classrooms with a green threshold between the building and the boundary wall whilst trying to optimise day lighting in the classrooms.
The gardens were an integral part of the scheme, a zone for quiet and reflective play versus packs of boys running on hard surfaces. Berms and tunnels, pirate ships and sitting pods allow for group play, learning, or quiet solitary reading beneath the shade of a tree. Nature as inspiration and home.
