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RADAR
FEATURES
COMMENT
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| | CLARENCE FAMILY DAY CARE REVIEW Julia Gatley
PHOTOGRAPHY Ray Joyce
| More Froebel than Mondrian, 1+2 Architecture’s latest project gives civic presence to a small building that celebrates play and childhood. |
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The bold colour and form
of the day care offices as seen
from the entry path.
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The
front facade, with the Hobart
skyline beyond. The colours
and pattern of the facade are
influenced by Froebel blocks.
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The ribbon window
continues into the
internal partition
between the manager’s
office and main office,
accentuating the view.
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The colours of the
facade are brought into
the foyer space.
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1 Plus 2 Architecture’s recently completed Clarence
Family Day Care Centre, in the Hobart suburb of
Bellerive, demonstrates that it is possible to give
presence to a small civic building, even when the
site is tight and the budget even tighter. Form and
colour together generate initial impact, while
beyond the front facade, well-resolved spatial
planning and particular care with sun and views
have left the clients glowing, not only with
satisfaction, but also with gratitude. This building
surpassed their every expectation.
The Clarence Family Day Care Centre is not a
childcare facility per se, but the headquarters for a
Clarence City Council programme whereby
individual childcare workers look after small groups
of children at home. An earlier 1+2 project, the
Richmond Public Toilets and Bus Shelter
(Architecture Australia, March/April 2005), for a
different branch of the Clarence City Council, led to
this second council commission. The new building
includes offices and facilities for the seven staff who
run the childcare programme, a seminar room for
training sessions and meetings, and a library for the
storage of toys that are available for lending.
Built on an internal suburban site, the building
is not visible from the street. A driveway provides
access to the sizeable council car park onto which
the building fronts. Appropriately for a
purpose-built civic building, the Clarence Family
Day Care Centre is differentiated from the houses
and adapted domestic buildings that neighbour it.
This is achieved by the use of a white modernist box
form, grounded at one end and cantilevered at the
other, and a punchy front facade.
Despite these differences, the building is very
sensitive to its neighbours. Careful siting and a
skillion roof ensure that it does not block the view
of the Derwent and Mt Wellington from the house on
its east side, nor the sun’s light and warmth from the
house to the south. Indeed, retention of the view
shaft from the eastern house led to the angle of the
front facade and thus to the building’s triangular
footprint. This arrangement is also advantageous in
that the angled facade faces towards the driveway
and the main point of arrival.
1+2 made a conscious decision to focus attention
on the front facade in order to give the building
presence. First impressions might suggest references
to both De Stijl art and Post-Modern architecture,
but such a reading would be conjectural. Indeed, the
facade is more Froebel than Mondrian. 1+2 found
inspiration in the coloured building blocks
developed by the nineteenth-century educationalist
Friedrich Froebel as educative toys for young
children. The colour scheme that adorns the
fibro-cement sheets was then developed
collaboratively, with contributions not only from
1+2 but also from director Fred Ward’s two young
daughters and the seven Clarence Family Day Care
Centre staff. These women are unlikely to associate
the pinks and greys that they selected with
Post-Modern architecture in the way that those of
us with an interest in and/or a memory of 1970s
and 80s architecture might. The reference to
children’s building blocks and the colour scheme
together create an architecture that celebrates
childhood and play.
In plan, public spaces are located in the
triangular area immediately inside the main
entrance and private spaces in the orthogonal wings
that flank the triangle. Public spaces get the sun
while staff offices get the view of the Derwent and
Mt Wellington. This is amplified in the south-west
corner by a continuation of ribbon windows from
the exterior into the internal partition that provides
acoustic separation between the manager’s office
and the main open-planned office area. In addition
to the differing geometries, public spaces are also
more voluminous than private ones, with the roof
and ceiling both falling from the north-east corner.
Though not a childcare centre, this is
nonetheless a building that children do visit, when
accompanying childcare workers and/or parents.
A small play space has been provided, just inside
the front door. A window at floor level means that
children at play can be seen from outside the
building, further identifying this as a
child-focused facility. In addition, a miniature
(child-sized) version of the front facade, complete
with coloured panels and transparent windows,
creates separation between the play space and the
entry and circulation route. Doors with high handles
ensure that children can be contained within the
foyer area.
The pinks and greys of the front facade are
continued into the foyer, complemented by the
introduction of red. Red then replaces pink in other
parts of the interior, notably for furniture. Ironically,
the use of screens and partitions internally, at a
range of widths and heights, supports the
unintended reading of the front facade as a
Mondrian painting – such screens and partitions
typify De Stijl interiors and thus suggest a De Stijl
connection inside as well as out.
With the Clarence Family Day Care Centre,
1+2 have reaffirmed their skill in producing
well-resolved, interesting civic buildings, on time
and within budget. As was the case with the
Richmond Public Toilets and Bus Shelter, the new
building demonstrates a considered response to
context, site, programme and the full range of user
groups. Though not intending to become specialists
in child-focused architecture, 1+2 are currently
working on a series of childcare centres. Given the
many merits of the Clarence Family Day Care
Centre, these next projects should be awaited
with interest.
DR JULIA GATLEY IS A LECTURER IN ARCHITECTURAL
HISTORY, THEORY AND DESIGN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
TASMANIA, LAUNCESTON.
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CLARENCE FAMILY
DAY CARE OFFICE
Architect 1+2
Architecture.
Quantity surveyor
WT Partnership.
Structural and
hydraulic engineer
Gandy & Roberts.
Building certification
Pitt and Sherry.
Electrical and
mechanical engineering
ECOS. Builder Bennett
Construction. Client
Clarence Family Day
Care Scheme. Building
owner Clarence
City Council.
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