3. The site is where the school holds assembly and the
architects felt that it would be beneficial to the school
if the design of the library in some way enhanced this
“event” or “ritual” of school life, by creating a stage
linked to the library.
4. Lastly the building was orientated to have a
visual reference back to Alex so as not to ignore the
immediate surroundings and context of the school.
The SEED is immediately visible upon entering the
school via the main entrance. The colourful building
nestled between the classroom blocks and the admin
building is in direct contrast to the traditional facebrick
school buildings. Once on the major arterial or main
school corridor the technicolour clad facade of the
ground floor container of the SEED comes into full
view. Long thin windows, located between the book
shelves on the interior, jut through the technicolour
façade allowing for sneak peaks from the corridor
through the building to the quad and Alexandra
beyond. The upper container, painted in green and
grey, hovers over the library entrance. The entire area
around the building is finished off with a resilient
natural look synthetic grass which makes a significant
difference to the school as this was area was previously
sand.
Upon entry into the SEED on the left is the book
library with the long windows, seen from the corridor,
between the shelves which ensure that the books are
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adequately lit without artificial lighting by day. There
is also a generous bright yellow timber trimmed
window seat in which to lounge and read a book.
Both the window seat and the long windows protrude
significantly from the container to increase the space
within the building. This is because at 2,4m wide a
container in its original state is relatively narrow. The
book shelves are arranged in a conventional back to
back isle arrangement as it increases the number of
linear metres of shelving, which is very important as
the building is relatively small.
On the right of the entrance lobby is a sliding door
leading to the bright red external stairs. This is a
playful element that was designed and built like a giant
steel Lego or Mechano set. The upper level terminates
in a balcony directing the view of the user toward Alex.
There is a formal group space on the one end and the
remaining space is individual re-arrangeable reading
space. A sliding door allows access to the upper deck
which is also an informal re-arrangeable space with a
one hundred and eighty degree view of Alexandra.
Describe the environmental benefits of using a
shipping container instead of bricks and mortar
Re-using any item or product, like a shipping container,
has a lesser impact on the environment and therefore
has environmental benefits over building materials
like bricks and mortar which are purpose created for a
project.