Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Sunday, 26 May 2013
click-learn grows up... Kidsfirst Redcliffs Kindergarten
Since the realisation of the full size prototype for the Puke Ariki Kiwi Prefab exhibition much has happened. We have been working hard to realise a possible project for my old friend Mel Slemint affected by the earthquakes in Christchurch. Being a working mum (an architect) with kids at local community kindergarten she together with a focused bunch of parents led by Greg Jansen were desperately looking for a solution to replace their demolished kindergarten for their little people.
So I put together a team including my trusty collaborator Jaap Dankert (also busy realising a number of small projects in the netherlands), with support from Gary Caulfield and Sean Wood from Stanley Modular (who fabricated the Puke Ariki prototype) and structural engineer Alistair Cattenach and Rowan Ballagh from Dunning Thornton, and services & environmental engineer Patrick Arnold from eCubed Building Workshop we put together a proposal with two options - a super minimum option and an expanded option including community space, with the ambition to realise it from beginning to end in four months.
The result of this very committed band of people has been a wonderful engagement and commitment from Kidsfirst CEO Sherryll Wilson and the Kidsfirst Board to fully embrace the proposal and realise all of the ideas behind my earlier thinking from the Click-Learn Future Schools submission in Australia.
Kidsfirst sees the project as an exciting example of a new generation of learning environment and are very enthusiastic to realise the full potentials of the click-raft system together with its benefits of inexpensive construction, strong and rugged for earthquake, rapid to fabricate and assemble, and highly flexible to enable easy adaption to specific requirements and different sites. Additionally the inclusion of PV solar power on the roof, water harvesting for toilets and garden water, and an educational resource management system which provides an easy to use monitoring system so that teachers and parents can learn together with the kids how best to use the building and manage its natural resources of ambient temperature, roof water and solar energy supply.
For click-raft this is a very exciting moment, its the beginning of what I hope will be an ongoing relationship to realise in partnership with Kidsfirst the first fully code compliant buildings... and to do this for the young kids affected by Christchurch's earthquakes, providing them with a completely new kind of learning future.
I've included a bunch of work progress images still under development as we progress the design and refine it taking into account the many spatial, structural, environmental and economic issues to be addressed taking into account not only Christchurch's new compliance codes but also Ministry of Education compliance to gain a licence. All important hoops to address in realising the project.
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