Xsquared Architects was engaged to design a new Kindergarten for Moonah Primary School.
The Moonah Primary School was established in 1911 and is located approximately 6 km north of central Hobart, in the suburb of Moonah. The school was created at a time when the demographic of Moonah and Glenorchy was changing from an agricultural estate to an area of industrial activity and related residential housing, and the site is considered a fine intact example of pre-WW1 Federation style school buildings and later Edwardian / inter-war extensions.
The school is the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Demonstration School for Tasmanian the kitchen garden program is an integral part of the school curriculum.
The brief for the new Kindergarten is to create two classrooms that meet the National Quality Standards for early learning, that provide a contemporary learning environment with improved access, natural light and improve the quality / visual connectivity to the outdoor spaces.
The new Kindergarten is a stand-alone building, and it has been positioned nestled against the kitchen garden. The building blocks out the strong western winds and encloses the schools’ main play area. This has created a strong front and back to the Kindergarten.
The Art in Public Buildings program was utilised to build artwork into the southern wall, which forms the main entrance to the site from the car park. Through the selection process, Jackson Wells was selected as the Artist, Jackson works with building materials and augmented reality software to allow complicated designs to be built. This blend of cutting edge technology with a traditional brick was the perfect art for Moonah Primary School. The artwork is called ‘interlace’ the woven feel to the brickworks represents the woven Moonah Primary school community.
The classroom has a strong relationship to the playground, which all face the central school play area. This area also gets the sun in the first half of the day. The interiors of the classrooms have high ceilings and a neutral colour palette.
Photos by Rosie Hastie
