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| Exterior of Learning Resource Centre |
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| View of school from playing field |
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| Central mainstreet |
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| Gazebo on north side of school |
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About the Project
High technology has dramatically reformed the traditions of Canadian agriculture. While the family farm has been largely eclipsed by corporate mega-producers, the rural areas of the prairie remain steeped in the traditions and life style of closely knit districts and towns.
This design for a community school is a metaphor to this prarie tradition. A K-9 core school of 3390M2, the parti is a study of Quintessential prairie icons from granaries and silos to barns and farmhouses.
Process
Like most prairie towns, Bonnyville has a vibrant main street. A commercial lifeline linking random orders of residential, commercial and industrial buildings along its length, the pavement extends beyond the town to the rolling landscape of farms, lakes and forest.
The site for a new school is nested within the oldest neighborhood of the town, next to the school that served the community for decades. A celebration of traditional rural values and an affection for the farm typologies of the region is clearly expressed in the programme.
The design is a metaphor to this vernacular.
Design
Classrooms in a regular pattern on the south of the site reflect the rhythm of single family dwellings across the street. Specific functions occur in vernacular structures: the administration in a 'farmhouse', computer rooms in 'grain silos' and the gymnasium in a 'barn'. These components, scattered on the site in random order, relate to the typical farm buildings nonth of the play fields.
A central main street links these disparate components, containing all of the public elements of the school. The street also connects to the single storey frame school to the west. The space between the two buildings forms a common entrance and forecourt.
Over 50% of the students commute by school bus from nearby farms. The plan acknowledges the arrival and departure process by clustering groups of classrooms around separate entrances, mudrooms and washroom cores. These face the street enabling direct access to and from the building without queuing outdoors.
The classroom spaces incorporate small, cosy corners for quiet activities. Separate shared learning and study lofts create two level light wells over each washroom core.
The central street opens to the community year round as a social space. It connects a variety of functions including the learning resource centre, the multi purpose room, the tuck shop and the upper computer lofts. The multi purpose room is also a stage to the gym. Barn doors separate the two spaces from each other.
A planted windrow of deciduous trees and a future hay barn which will be used as a picnic shelter in summer and covered skating rink in winter completes the composition.
Construction
The reliance on daylight is an integral part of the design. A continuous clerestory along the street obviates the need for lights to be on during daytime hours. The gym is a daylighted room, using the traditional ventilator form as a clerestory.
The structure is combination steel frame and metal roof deck over the major areas. A curved glu-laminated beam and wood deck along the interior street absorbs the warmth of the sun. Exterior skin is stucco, brick and a field stone patterned concrete block wainscot. For the computer rooms, standard galvanised silos form the building skin with a metal stud back up wall.
The exterior landscape also recalls a rural vernacular. A planted windrow, gazebo and line fences define pathways, outdoor patio rooms and eating areas. A hay barn on axis with the gymnasium is a future picnic shelter and covered outdoor skating rink in winter.
Drawings
Project Details
| Location | |
Bonnyville, Alberta |
| Client | |
Lakeland School District #5460 6005 - 50th Avenue Bonnyville, Alberta T9N 2J7 |
| Architects | |
Barry Johns Architects |
| Consultants | |
Structural: Walters Chambers and Associates Ltd. Mechanical: Electrical: Builder: |
| Cost | |
$4 000 000 |
| Completion | |
1992 |
Other Barry Johns Architects Projects
This project was published on 1996.05.01.
| © 1996- 2001 |
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