Manresa Enrichment Centre

The overarching idea for the Manresa Enrichment Centre involved creating a destination facility that augmented sensory experience.  With BER funding, St Ignatius School was able to relocate existing classrooms; strip the building back to its podium slab, and reconstruct the Centre to house a library, seminar room, computer lab and senior GLA.

The Enrichment Centre occupies the most prominent location on site, enabling both staff and students to access the city views and northern aspect.  Positioned at the end of Grove Cresent, the building presents a contemporary face for the school while being respectful of the red brick and tile aesthetic that dominates the site.   The abutment between old and new is addressed by the design scale and sympathetic material palette, including terracotta cladding and off-form concrete.

The internal spaces are organised to stimulate learning; promote sensory and imaginary exploration and enable intimacy through reading and gathering.  The library features a raised roof area that not only encourages natural light all year round but also creates a double height mezzanine space, storing a ‘wall of books’.   The project was the culmination of a master planning process involving consideration of the school’s heritage listing, equal accessibility, landscape and educational issues.