design
mag |
77
In 1901 Miss Mabel Fidler opened a day
school in the Sydney suburb of Gordon on
land adjacent to ‘Ravenswood’, the home she
and her sisters built two years prior. In those
days it was common for young women to
establish small independent schools;
Ravenswood School for Girls is one of the few
still operating on its original site.
The Mabel Fidler Building, opened in July 2011, is
the first outcome of a masterplan that seeks to
unify a campus that has grown from a handful
of students to an enrolment of over 1100.The
new building forms a hub for both staff and
students and heralds a new direction for the
school.
As well as supplying Bowral Blue bricks for the
base walling,Austral Bricks® worked with BVN
(formerly Bligh Voller Nield) and ESD Landscape
Contractors to develop a new clay paver format,
essentially a half-brick laid on its edge, that
allows the base walling and adjacent paving to
“form a continuous landscape out of the same
material,” explains project architect Knut
Menden.
The BVN team, led by principal Bill Dowzer,
consulted with staff and students to define the
school’s needs.“There was a particular site that
the school had in mind for the new building but
the students had other ideas,” Menden recalls.
The students prevailed.The chosen site was
restricted due to its proximity to the school oval
and the adjacent Centenary Centre which
prompted the building’s shallow-vee plan.
The Mabel Fidler Building is at the heart of the
school. Senior school classrooms are grouped
around the lower courtyard, with the main
reception, administration, cafeteria, senior
student lounge and staff areas on level one,
within the base structure.
A remarkable new building sets a
new benchmark in architectural
and educational design
Quick Facts
Mabel Fidler Building
Location:
Henry Street,
Gordon NSW
Owner:
Ravenswood
School for Girls
Architect:
BVN
Structural engineer:
Taylor
Thomson and Whitting
Builder:
Cockram
Construction
Bricklayer:
DJD Brick
& Blocklaying
Paving contractor:
ESD
Landscape Contractors
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