Neeson Murcutt + Neille

Stanmore Public School

2012 AIA NSW Public Architecture Award

The project provides a new library and two classrooms whilst completely re-organising the core of the school. The building is organized in two parts – new classrooms in direct alignment with the original 1884 classroom building, and main library space along the street edge, providing an appropriately civic address. The library space is open – intimate at one end, voluminous at the other. The new building is separated from the old with a new entrance and covered outdoor classroom / parent pick-up area. The building is clad in a dark brick similar to that found elsewhere in the school. Vibrant coloured steel is incorporated into window openings and the screened stairway that connects upper and lower level playgrounds to the new classrooms. It is celebratory, animating the building form, enlivening the playground space, and visually referencing the brightly coloured bodies of planes flying low overhead.

Featured in:
Australian National Architecture Awards 2012 ed. David Maguire
New South Wales Architecture Awards 2012