Sydney High School is one of the most famous educational institutions of this Australian city, whose history goes back more than a dozen years. The well-deserved age of the school affects not only its reputation, but also the possibilities for expanding existing properties - the complex is located in a densely built-up area, not a single object of which can be demolished. This is what prompted the architects to find a non-trivial way out of the situation: they decided to place the new assembly hall deep underground.
And so that rehearsals and concerts do not interfere with the educational process, the hall was designed not under the school itself, but under the courtyard belonging to it, in which sports and playgrounds are located.
The rocky rocks prevailing in the soils on which the foundation of the school stands threatened to immensely complicate the implementation of the plan of PTW architects, but the architects found a way out here too. Lumps of limestone have become part of the interior of the future hall, or rather the space behind the stage, thanks to which the stage box seems to be literally carved into stone.
Above the stage there is an acoustic deck, and over the whole hall there is a special ceiling, which creates good acoustics in it and at the same time prevents the spread of sound outside the given space. The ceiling is supported by metal trusses painted in red and gray, whose semi-oval shape makes the hall similar to traditional concert venues. The same structures allow to let in a little daylight into the underground volume - through the side skylights-windows overlooking the courtyard.
A. M.
