Classrooms KG 1-7 on the Ilam Oval, now called the Kirkwood Oval.
The inside of a temporary classroom in the Kirkwood Oval, ready for students.
The inside of one the temporary classrooms, still being constructed, in the Oval Village.
Workers building the floor of one of the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers laying the floor on one of the temporary classrooms in the Ilam Oval.
Workers pouring concrete into the foundations for the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers pouring concrete into the foundations for the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
The inside of a temporary classroom on the Ilam Oval, almost ready for students.
The inside of one of the temporary classrooms in the Oval Village, almost finished.
KG 6 and KG 7, temporary classrooms in the Kirkwood Oval, ready for students.
A crane lowers the roof onto one of the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A worker on the roof of one of the temporary classrooms in the Oval Village.
The inside of one of the temporary classrooms in the Kirkwood Village, ready for students.
The inside of one of the temporary classrooms in the Kirkwood Village, ready for students.
A crane lowers the roof onto one of the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A worker pouring contrete into the foundation of a temporary classroom on the Ilam Oval.
Lines of nails used in the construction of temporary classrooms at the College of Education.
A crane lowers the roof onto one of the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A worker sawing insulation to fit into the floor of a classroom in the Oval Villlage.
A worker working on the roof of one of the temporary classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers laying insulation into the floor of one of the temporary classrooms in the Ilam Oval.
A digger digs up dirt for the foundations of one of the classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A digger digs up dirt for the foundations of one of the classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
A digger digs up dirt for the foundations of one of the classrooms on the Ilam Oval.
Workers digging up the ground as part of the construction of the Oval Village, temporary classrooms on Campus.
Insulation waiting to be installed into the floor of one of the temporary classrooms in the Ilam Oval.
The front page graphic for the Mainlander section of The Press. The main headline reads, "Death in the classroom".
A new way to get students left classroom-less by the Christchurch earthquake back into school is proving successful.
As cities evolve, change and grow, the need and desire for adaptable architecture becomes evident across the nation. Architecture needs to undertake techniques that are flexible in order to adapt and align with the development of future generations in New Zealand. The Education industry is a primary example of a sector which requires flexibility within both classroom architectural form and interior configuration. This is a resultant of the recently updated Ministry of Education requirements; which state that every new classroom built or renovated nationwide, must implement the MoE classroom design standards for Innovative Learning Environments. ILE teaching spaces are configured as an open plan interior, supporting flexibility in classroom arrangement and teaching techniques. ILE classrooms are capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change, allowing schools to remain modern and future focused. As part of this movement to ILE, the Ministry of Education has also recently made an attempt to improve the quality of temporary classrooms. This has been done by looking into the initiation of a programme that utilizes relocatable classroom buildings. Relocatable classrooms have been selected for multiple reasons, primarily flexibility. Flexibility is key for a school environment as it allows the school to actively respond to fluctuating school rolls. It is anticipated that the programme will provide a faster delivery process with a standardised design that allows the classrooms to be relocated from one school to another with relative ease. Following the devastating February 2011 earthquake the Greater Christchurch Region, the Education sector is in the midst of the Canterbury Schools Rebuild Programme. As a repercussion of this natural disaster, the majority of Christchurch schools have redevelopment or rebuild projects in progress, with preliminary design phases already in action for a small group of select schools regarded as high priority. The primary funding for these projects are sourced from insurance money, implementing tight budget restrictions, affecting the architectural design, quality and speed of the construction and repair works. The available funding limits the affordable classroom options to basic teaching spaces that have been stripped back to simple architectural forms, dictating not only the re-design, but also how our future generations will learn. Thus causing the development of the new student-led learning ILE concept to become controlled by existing construction techniques and the Rebuild Programmes budget restrictions. This thesis focuses on the future proofing of New Zealand schools by providing an affordable and time efficient alternative option to the current static, traditional construction, an option that has the ability to cater to the unpredictable fluctuating school rolls across the nation. This has been done by developing a prefabricated system for standalone classroom blocks. These blocks have the ability to be relocated between different school sites, dynamically catering to the unpredictable school roll numbers experienced across New Zealand. This site flexibility is reflected with the interior flexibility in the classrooms, enhancing the internal teaching space composition and challenges the existing design standards set by the Ministry of Education for Innovative Learning Environments. This system is called “Flexi-Ed”. Flexibility has been a key driver for this thesis, as the prefabricated structure is have to be flexible in three ways; first in the sense of being easy to assemble and disassemble. Second by offering flexible interior learning environments and thirdly the joints of the structure are designed with the ability to be flexible in order to cope with seismic activity. These three principles will provide schools with long term flexibility, minimal on-site interruption and heighten the standard of ILE across the nation. I strive to provide schools with long term flexibility and minimal site interruption, whilst heightening the standard of Innovative Learning Environments across New Zealand.
Piles in the ground, waiting for the floors of temporary classrooms to be built on top, on the Ilam Oval.