St. Mary's, Lancefield

The Brief

The initial brief was a complete re-design of their existing school. At the time, the school consisted of a large number of relocatable buildings, and the school wished to consolidate these into a permanent structure. The initial plan provided by Genem Architects suited the needs and existing design of the school, while allowing plenty of space for students to use.

Intrinsic to the school's needs was an indoor multi-purpose space, given that there was no comfortable indoor, communal space to use in case of wet weather conditions. Multi-functionality was of utmost importance, to create a space not only for children to congregate in wet weather, but also for assemblies and functions.

Genem created a multi-functional space, with a completely flexible interior, where individual classrooms have operable walls so that they can open out into any space required (wet-weather break-out space, gym, hall, performance space).

The school initially received funding for $1.475 million, to create four new classrooms with operable walls. Through the BER project, the school received an additional $2 million. However, the expectation upon delivering these funds was that the money would only be spent on a multi-purpose hall. With the combined budget of $3.475 million, Genem not only created the originally-planned four classrooms with operable walls, as well as the multi-purpose hall, but also added two new classrooms, an arts/ crafts space, toilets, a complete refurbishment of the entire school, including the school’s administrative area and the school’s library, all while staying on the budget allocated.