Pembroke Middle School Art, Science and Technology building

Pembroke is one of Adelaide’s leading private schools, and sets the standard in educational facilities and learning innovation. So, the design and build of their new Middle School Art, Science and Technology building was never going to be… standard.

Architects, Grieve Gillett Andersen, were given the challenge of designing a building which told a story about construction and innovation to inspire the next generation of builders, designers and innovators – the building itself would be a topic of learning.

The ‘learning village’ build required 2020m2 of wall cladding (and a further 2200m2 of roof cladding). It would highlight the angular aesthetic of the structure, and make the façade… pop. That’s why Fielders popped up in conversation.

Using the measurements from the CAD elevations, we rolled out different width sheets and cut them to exact shapes by hand. We number coded each piece and stacked them in assembly order.

The idea was to provide the installers with a ready-made kit of Finesse® Prominence^TM – like a flat-pack on steroids… except our flat-pack would make installation simpler.

We delivered the 2020m2 of Finesse® Prominence^TM in 22 sections, comprising a total of approximately 1,600 pieces (ranging in length from 260mm to 14m). It sounds daunting, but all the installers had to do was start with the top piece of each section and work their way (across the façade) to the bottom.

This project was something quite different for Fielders – it’s usually more cost efficient for products to be delivered in standard widths and lengths, but this design was cutting edge in more ways than one.

Discussions between the architects and the contractor (SA Construct) led to the choice of Fielders Finesse® Prominence^TM for the wall cladding using COLORBOND® steel matt finish in Basalt®. Apart from its contemporary good looks, Finesse® Prominence^TM is easy to install and stays true to form.

For this particular project, the architects were going for an ‘industrial workshop’ look – a place of making and experimentation. The matt finish of Finesse® Prominence^TM complemented this look, and added an element of softness and depth of colour.

However, the design of Pembroke’s new Art, Science and Technology Building posed an interesting challenge for Fielders. Normally, our metal products are rolled out in single-width sheets and cut to length on site. The intricate triangulated specifications of the design meant we had to approach our rolling from a different angle.