OCSB - St. Benedict Elementary School

Project Team :

Bryden Martel Architects : Architect of Record

WSP - Civil / Structural / Mechanical / Electrical Engineers

James B. Lennox & Associates Inc. - Landscape Architect

Description :

This school is a single storey with six kindergarten classrooms, sixteen classrooms, a main office, learning commons, and double gym.

This schools was situated on varying soils conditions. The result was designing a building  over two very different soils conditions, careful consideration was required of the engineers to accommodate this conditions. 

Similar to St. Cecilia and St Dominic, this school is one storey in height. However, unlike the pervious two schools St. Benedict does not have a tower. Instead the school has a unique sculptural canopy inspired by Frank  Gehry’s free flowing architectural forms.  As visitors arrive at the school they are greeted by an unexpected wave over the main entrance. The building façade is equally active and bright  creating a identifier of an elementary school. 

The architecture itself became a learning opportunity with structural elements exposed and finishes cut away to reveal what is behind them.  A window into the Boiler Room showcases colour-coded pipes, ducts, and equipment that are explained on an educational display on the wall outside the room.  

The school is brightly coloured, exuberant and playful. There are curved walls in the learning commons, floor patterns undulate down the corridors, and acoustic clouds mimic the floor patterns and frame the learning pods and niches throughout the school. The architecture is intended to inspire curiosity and learning.