Future indicative

Standing at the doorstep of one of the world's upcoming creative centres a city that boasts the likes of Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop it makes sense that a prominent Wellington college would want to be the go-to school for boys with inventive minds and dreams for the future. Leading-edge facilities are a powerful drawcard.

The new Creative & Performing Arts Facility and Hodge Sports Centre at Scots College, designed by Athfield Architects and built by Field & Hall, fulfil this agenda.

Architect Nick Strachan says the arts facility is now a prominent building within the fabric of the school. It connects the heritage Leuchars wing on one side and chapel hall on the other, as well as providing key circulation and a linking core to newer teaching facilities.

However, if the facility looks impressive from the outside, its real dynamism is in its leading-edge creative teaching, rehearsal and performing spaces.

"Large floor plates allow for dynamic, open-plan teaching zones. The expansive drama studio, for example, is separated from the existing hall and chapel by an operable wall that can be retracted for an even larger performance-audience space. Both the drama studio and the music room are of a scale to allow different activities within the same volume."

Then there are computer pods for graphics and robots, soundproof practice rooms and facilities to match 3D modelling, digital white boards and in-built sound systems are just some.

On the other side of the campus and completed contiguously, the Hodge Sports Centre is equally contemporary looking a little like a translucent space craft recently descended from space.

"The curved laminate beams and encompassing polycarbonate skin create a light-weight rain-proof space, primarily for cricket and sports training.

"One end of the facility includes a mezzanine floor complete with team changing facilities, a spectator gallery and offices. The other end opens up to provide extend playing options onto the field.

The high-tech skin brings optimum natural light conditions its strength gauged in a low-tech way. Samples of polycarbonate were tested by pupils whacking cricket balls at them at pace.

Story by: Charles Moxham