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The ground floor, Dolly’s Café has a brilliant vibe within an
urban context of adjacent apartments, townhouses and
individual residences on a busy road. The ground plane
opens most visibly through its glazing to provide the
easiest of transitions between inside and out.
An aesthetic based upon a distilled material palette
of steel, glass and timber in their relatively natural states,
proves highly effective in the making of a calm, tranquil
study environment. No brightly coloured fandangles are
required to suggest upbeat learning. Finely scaled
mullions are evidence of pared structure that allows
Viridian double-glazed units to perform with understated,
crystalline elegance.
Here, the form-making and architecture of extroverted
character does the heavy lifting rather than a reliance on
artificial or cosmetic flourishes to invest optimism usually
framed by lifeless spaces. Daylight, the architect seems
to be saying, is the great uplifter and daily tonic.
Gipson’s enthusiasm for education and its role as a
platform for continuing enquiry throughout life, drives
his passion for more enlightened learning with the
physical environment as pivotal.
Corridors are rendered
irrelevant with glass and
timber screens providing
transitional cues between
learning spaces.
PETER HYATT, VISION