Tennent + Brown Architects
Project Location:
Palmerston North
Categories:
Commercial Architectural Excellence
Project Description:
The school site faces the road near Palmerston North’s City centre and was seen as an opportunity to promote the presence and health of the Maori language to the public. This project is a new purpose built Te Reo Maori immersion school from crèche age to Year 13.
The school saw the building as an integral part of the teaching process. The structure of the building was expressed using steel posts, glue-laminated timber beams and ridge and was seen as the body of the building- the spine and ribs of Maori ancestors. The ceiling was envisaged as the underside of the overarching cloak- in layered panels of MDF and punched hardboard.
One of the primary reasons wood was chosen was to bring a warmth and domesticity to a building which was to play an integral part in the school community’s sense of place and being.