FROM THE ARCHITECTS DRAWING
Windy Ridge School is a Green-Gold Enviro School, passionate about their connections back to the earth and their local environment. A roll growth project called for the design of 12 new learning spaces, meeting the low energy, healthy building demands of the environmentally conscious school.
Designed for performance and aesthetics, the form was kept purposely simple, with visual flourishes and an attention to detail that would raise the interest of students and visitors. The view from the 1st floor of the new building provides views of the harbour to the west, so a perforated screen was designed, allowing the enjoyment of those views whilst simultaneously providing shading and weather protection.
TO DESIGN REALITY
The design uses a balanced mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, with opening windows critical for user control comfort and control. Insol Horizon Canopies, with a standard Dulux Duratec powder coat, were fixed above windows on the ground floor of the North, East and South elevations, aiding window use by providing shading and weather protection. This helps meet the energy goals, with the building being 70% more energy efficient than the building code minimum.
However, the talking point of the design is undoubtedly the staircases. They feature large scenes made from a custom dapple design and use different open rates to cleverly portray depth. Those scenes change, depending on your viewing angle and the time of the day.
Looking out from the stairwell during the day, the pictures created blend with the immediate environment outside. You can look through the perforated branches to real branches, as the overall aesthetic melts together. By night, the branches become silhouettes against the night sky.
During the day when looking from the outside, the Scurrier Red panels are bold and contrast with the rest of the building. But by night, interior lights mask the red and reveal the full scene created by the dapple perf, the building protecting nature back at itself, completing arguablly the most ingenious use of dapple yet seen.
