LHRA worked with Glenlyon Norfolk School starting in 2014 to reconceptualize and renew their campuses to meet the needs of progressive 21st century learning. GNS’s historic Beach Campus started in the former home of noted Victoria architect Francis Rattenbury in 1935. Numerous additions and alterations were made to the campus between the 1930’s and 1970’s but the school facilities were past the end of their service life and not supportive of the School’s progressive International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program.
Recognizing that learning doesn’t just take place in the classroom, the new school is based on expansive and flexible common areas supporting multiple changing uses, with transparent connections to classrooms with great natural light and views of the singular waterfront setting. At the heart of the building is ‘The Mountain’ – a set of seating risers that can accommodate the entire School community for assemblies and performances.
The new facilities replaced every part of the campus that wasn’t part of Rattenbury’s original home. His house, garage, and boathouse are being restored to their original condition in 1912 with sensitive alterations and interventions where the original fabric was irrevocably altered and unknown. During the course of deconstruction of later alterations to Rattenbury’s boathouse an entirely new understanding of its original construction was discovered, revealing a fascinating Tudoresque heavy timber frame.
