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The Len King Sports Pavilion is the latest major building at St Mark’s, an Anglican co-educational school on Perth’s northern beaches. Opened in 1986, the school has progressively expanded as its enrolment grew to the current level of 1270 students in kindergarten through to year 12. The school’s vision for this building was more than the usual gymnasium/auditorium. “St Mark’s wanted a building that would give them a presence from Whitfords Avenue, a major road,” explains the architect Chris Oakley. The pavilion’s activities encompass netball, basketball and volleyball. Less expected is the dance studio, high ropes course, and an abseiling tower! The ropes course comprises a series of steel platforms, rope bridges, rope walkways, balancing beams and motorised, retractable climbing logs. The pavilion is also used for school assemblies and functions as well as formal speech nights. The site was very confined, falling steeply towards the school oval. Building the southern elevation into the slope necessitated a large, concrete-filled cavity-brick retaining wall. In contrast, the northern elevation rises the full height, with the abseiling tower reaching over 10 metres, creating a strong presence to the public and passing traffic. Like other buildings on the St Mark’s campus – and in line with standard practice in Western Australia – the pavilion walling is constructed in cavity brickwork, with the exception of checkerboarded fibro panels at upper levels. “(Selecting brickwork) was a conscious decision by the school,” Oakley explains. “St Mark’s just find it so practical. It’s easy to live with, and brickwork gave the quality of image they were looking for.” Precast concrete panels were also considered, “but after a lot of discussion it was decided that it wasn’t really the sort of building the school wanted.” Structurally, the auditorium brickwork infills to the steel frame, with the perimeter brickwork supporting suspended concrete slabs, further supported by steel columns at mid span. The abseiling tower is constructed in loadbearing cavity brickwork. All brickwork is face quality, as it is throughout the school campus. According to Howard Marson, DBM Contractors construction director and the project’s contract administrator, construction went well. “The school is very pleased with the result,” he tells us. “The site has always been considered the rear of the school but now it presents a very pleasant face to Whitfords Avenue.” |
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