St Mary of the Cross Primary School Beehive
Project Details
Architects
Chris Le Page/ Nic Lymn
Address
Carrick Street, Saltwater Estate Point Cook , Victoria 3030 Australia
Submitter
Devkrishna Mistry
Cost
$4,700,00 + GST (Bee Hive-$10,000+ GST)
Photographer
Peter Clarke
Project Overview
There are many design features in our building, but none stand out quite like our ‘Bee Hives ‘. The Bee Hives was an innovation originally designed to reflect a nautical feature (the Cray pot). The building, in fact, has many nautical features which reflect our environment ‘Saltwater Coast ‘. On discovering the architectural features, the children named them ‘Bee Hives ‘, and so they have been Bee Hives ever since.
Statement from Principal:
“There are many design features in our building, but none stand out quite like our ‘Bee Hives ‘. The Bee Hives was an innovation originally designed to reflect a nautical feature (the Cray pot). The building, in fact, has many nautical features which reflect our environment ‘Saltwater Coast ‘. On discovering the architectural features, the children named them ‘Bee Hives ‘, and so they have been Bee Hives ever since.
There are two Bee Hives in our building providing hubs for many different activities. Teachers will set up activities around the Bee Hives and children will work there. This is usually used for mathematics or writing activities. There are occasions where class sets of laptops are set up for children to use, and so the Bee Hive becomes a writing centre.
The Bee Hives also provide an opportunity or a conversation space. The seating on the inside provides a ‘secluded space ‘ for children to conduct a discussion, play a quite game, or just work in the space. Lighting is excellent with a round fluorescent light at the top opening of the Bee Hive.
The final benefit of the Bee Hive has been the additional storage that has been provided. The shelving spaces are used for the storage of reading and writing materials. In most schools, the storage of materials takes up a great deal of space, but with the clever design of the Bee Hives, we are able to merge work space, leisure space and storage space all within the same innovative fixture.
The Materials used in the construction of the Bee Hives is very solid, and after nine months of operation, the structures look the same as they did when they were installed. Even small amounts of graffiti that have been discovered on the structures have been easily cleaned and the surfaces come up very well.
They have become a ‘wow ‘ factor for visitors to the school, and have become a way of life for our students who use them effectively every single day. We are very lucky to have these fixtures in our building, and we look forward to the maximizing the use of them as the school grows and develops in the coming years. “