ST JOHN’S PREPARATORY

Award of Excellence (Gauteng Institute for Architecture)

2023 | 25min 

A CPD Central film, in collaboration with Dream Station Productions.

The challenge was to design a new building with its own identity that created space for 18 new classrooms and a new science lab on an already densely populated campus, whilst located in an easily accessible central area that also allowed access to the existing buildings.  The new building had to be exemplary in terms of comfort and incorporate sustainable building elements. The guiding principle that was applied in evaluating the design was to directly compare it with the quality of the existing Baker buildings.

About:

The school worked with Mark Pencharz of PENCHARC, who, as part of their building committee, has advised the school over their building strategy for some time. This thorough knowledge of the history of the campus, architecture and the changing modern requirements of educational and sports facility design allowed PENCHARC to collaborate closely with the school to formulate the brief.  

Having recently completed the design for the new Pre-Preparatory School, which used a classroom module size in excess of 80m2, there was pressure to develop a design that would create equitable teaching and learning spaces for the preparatory school which was still housed in the original buildings, with their traditionally small classrooms, many of which incorporated fireplaces. The time had come to bring the Preparatory School into the modern era of educational design practices, whilst still respecting the tradition and classicism of the original buildings.

Extract taken from Architect and Builder magazine Jan/Feb23

Architect Mark Pencharz  of PENCHARC
Building typology Education Campus
Client St.Johns College

All photographs have been given use-rights and have been supplied by Architect and Builder Magazine for The Voice of the Architect Short Film Festival.

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