The project included providing a new office, staff WC, up-dating the existing children’s bathroom and re-surfacing the existing play area. The steel framed colonnade is intended to contrast with the rather austere and solid masonry church behind, which led to the vaulted roof form and the lightness of the materials used. The vaulted roof is made of translucent, cellular polycarbonate sheeting, allowing light to penetrate and be reflected into the classrooms behind, and also insulates from the summer sun’s heat.

The steel structure is painted white and is rhythmic and playful relating more to the scale of the children and functioning of the kindergarten. This contemporary “cloister” works on many different levels, improving aesthetics, scale and function whilst providing the kindergarten with a fresh new identity.

PHOTOGRAPHY Ray Clarke