LORETO TOORAK
St George’s Building Project
The Vision of John Sprunt Principal, Architectus Melbourne
The vision behind the St George’s redevelopment is outlined here by John Sprunt, Principal of Architectus and captured by Dr Kellee Frith. The architectural vision has been crafted by Paulo Sampaio as Design leader of the project.
It was not that long ago that Architectus was accepting an International Award for the Mandeville Centre, which is now the established hub of the School in learning, community and library and providing the best possible teaching and learning environments for Loreto Toorak’s young students. With that success behind us we were given the opportunity once again to commence on the Schools’ next building project; St George’s redevelopment.
The new building will comprise three levels of teaching and learning above ground, and one level underground with external sunken courtyards. A further double basement will be provided for car parking, accessed via the Mandeville Centre basement. The building replaces a series of seven individual building projects known collectively as the St George’s Wing which were essentially extensions to the original Mandeville Hall mansion building St George's. The proposed building development was prioritised following an extensive review and audit of all school buildings and education needs in the 2015 master plan review. Parity of experience, occupant wellbeing and internal environment quality were key design drivers, helping to shape and frame a formal response to the functional brief. In 2017 there was an intense consultation process, led by Dr Kellee Frith (Architectus), conducted to understand the needs of the Loreto Toorak’s Years 7-9 students and their teachers to formulate the pedagogical and spatial requirements for the project. Through this process four important themes emerged all of which have been the focal point of our vision for the project: • • • •
Equity of Experience Social Interaction and Informal learning Technology as a learning tool Beautiful and inspiring learning environments
The building is about the creation of beautiful spaces to inspire learning. More than bricks and mortar and much more than just the provision of a building area, this building 20
