Macarthur Anglican School, a prestige high school in Sydney’s south-west, engaged Mayoh Architects to design a new Integrated Studies Centre. The project came with a brief that specified the materials needed to be tough and as maintenance-free as possible.
The curved, split-level design centres around a landscaped garden, allowing for cross-discipline study so students can interact with one another through the co-location of labs, workshops, classrooms and breakout spaces. One of the highlights of the new building is the seminar room, which includes tiered seating.
The ceiling of the seminar room is Gyprock Rigitone Matrix 8 mm Round. This edge-to-edge product provides excellent acoustic properties, which helps to contain noise between the different learning areas. The tiered seating is bookended by walls clad with Cemintel Barestone complemented by acoustic tiles. The use of Barestone for selected elements of the interior means that the seminar is visually connected with the striking exterior, which also features Barestone (along with Cemintel Surround Blackish), to create a cohesive design.
The project architect, Mayoh’s Jonathan Henley, says there were a lot of acoustic challenges in this building to consider during the design process. “We have timber workshops and metal workshops underneath classrooms, which is great for collaboration between disciplines and staff, but difficult for acoustics,” he says. “You might be having exams or quiet study in one room and then you’d have workshop activity at the same time.”
Acoustic management is always a challenge in a school, especially for STEAM subjects, so Henley relied on CSR products to assist with the acoustics in the new building. With many noisy events occurring throughout the building during the average school day, including the use of industrial machinery, it was important to keep noise transfer to a minimum.
Bradford Insulation was specified for the walls and roof for acoustic and thermal comfort, while Gyprock Ceilings Rigitone Matrix 8 mm Round was chosen to minimize sound transfer between the two levels of the building. The ceilings’ plasterwork was configured around the rooms’ curves, while maintaining acoustic integrity.
Additional acoustic management included Bradford SoundScreen and Acoustigard products behind the Gyprock walls. “We researched the different products and the wall types so we could achieve higher levels of acoustic separation between the different areas,” says Henley.
With air quality a big issue for schools, especially post-COVID, Henley says the design of the new building included provision for cross-ventilation. External louvres can be operated remotely, allowing teachers to open up classrooms to capitalize on external breezes, or close them for heating or cooling via air-conditioning.
Gyprock Ceilings Rigitone was also specified in the classrooms, which is manufactured with Activ’Air technology and has an enduring impact on indoor air quality. Activ’Air was developed by worldwide plasterboard specialist Saint-Gobain. It converts VOCs, particularly formaldehyde, into non-harmful inert compounds that are permanently locked in the board and cannot be released back into the air.
The school is situated on 85 acres, including a working farm for the agricultural students, so Henley says that it was important to specify materials that complemented the surrounding open spaces. “I think that the mix of the dark Surround, the Barestone, and the timber was the aesthetic that we were going for, surrounded by greenery on the inside and the outside, which made the greenery pop,” he says.
CSR Gyprock
Source: Architecture - architectureau
