Green School NZ Wins Second Western Architecture Award
June 12, 2023
Green School New Zealand has won the Western Architecture Award for a second time, see the details of our latest win below.
Located on the outskirts of New Plymouth, a large Kina, Stage 2 of Green School, is nestled among thousands of native trees at the base of Mt Taranaki looking out to the ocean. The Kina form is celebrated with an organic, circular shape to create a safe and nurturing learning environment, with classrooms all opening to a shared central play space. A timber structure, driven piles, material selection and emphasis on insulation and ventilation systems ensure the building mirrors the environmental values the school is modelled on. The Kina patterning features throughout internal spaces, with timber acoustic panelling shaping the circular interior.
Green School New Zealand’s first Western Architecture Win details below.
An extremely tight programme drove an extraordinary collaborative effort between client, architect, structural engineer and the local construction industry. Necessity was the mother of invention: design decisions were guided by what the industry could deliver and building information modelling and off-site fabrication was used to maximise delivery times and minimise material wastage. The quality of the Green School’s architecture achieved in just under a year, with three ‘waka’ classrooms and surrounding landscaping established on site, is impressive. The distinctive tensile fabric learning vessels were inspired by eel nets and provide the school with a clearly identifiable brand. Inside, the use of timber, and palpable sense of craft, impart a soothing quality to the single learning space. It will be interesting to see how this school develops and how the ‘waka’ classrooms facilitate a brave new world of learning.
