CANADIAN ARCHITECT 09/21
25
MAKING THE GRADE
COMMUNITY NEEDS ARE AT THE HEART OF A NEW K-12 SCHOOL IN RURAL NOVA SCOTIA.
Marine Drive Academy, Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia FBM TEXT T. E. Smith-Lamothe PHOTOS Julian Parkinson PROJECT
ARCHITECT
In general, articles about new school designs concentrate on their aesthetic merits alone. A friend calls this “ogling the architecture.” But if form does, indeed, follow function, an educational building should manifest its end use: to be a well-designed place that enhances teaching and learning. The Marine Drive Academy, designed by Susan Fitzgerald of Halifax-based firm FBM, achieves both goals effortlessly. In this case, the designer and the school earn a solid “A” grade. The town of Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, is at the eastern extreme of Halifax Regional Municipality, about an hour-and-a-half drive from the city. The 800-person town is snuggled into the rugged Atlantic
1:53:30 AM CA Sep 21.indd 25
2021-08-18 3:13 PM
