Sister Marie Centre St Pius X High School
Adversity was turned to opportunity by re-thinking the site to integrate a new multi-function gathering space which included chapel functions
Client
Catholic Schools Office
Location
Adamstown, NSW
The original Sister Marie Centre at St Pius X High School, Adamstown NSW, was destroyed by arson, leaving the school without a dedicated communal gathering
space. Adversity was turned to opportunity by re-thinking the site to integrate a new multi-function gathering space which included chapel functions.
The chapel was designed as one quadrant of this new common space at the school entrance.
A simple robust exterior palette of materials is contrasted by a warm enveloping timber interior. The building framework has subtle geometrical references
including symmetry, repetition and mathematical proportion as seen in the fractal tree ceiling pattern.
The new Centre provides a flexible multi-purpose space for use by the school, parish and community. The building is a simple square plan, with two
sides which open out onto a future landscaped Courtyard. It encloses this public domain and protects a flexible space for children to sit both
internally and externally.
