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RADAR
FEATURES
COMMENT
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| | WORK BARN Paul Morgan Architects’ dramatic new trade facility for Box Hill TAFE apprentices.
REVIEW PETER BICKLE
PHOTOGRAPHY PETER BENNETTS
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The western end
of the trade facility
for Box Hill TAFE.
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The street
frontage of the trade
facility, showing the
elliptical window in
the southern wall.
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Looking into the
open shed from the
main entry ramp.
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The northern
facade and loading
bay.
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Looking across
the sandpit to the
open western end.
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My first impression of Paul Morgan Architects’ trade
facility for Box Hill TAFE was astonishment at its
sparseness. The function of the building is reduced to
the provision of walls and roof to provide shelter, and
a floor to accommodate the training of plumbing and
carpentry apprentices. As a generic type, it is simple
shed. The architectural content is not a consequence of
resolving a complex programme but is in the design of
the building’s form. It is the detail resolution of the form
that reveals the ideas behind the architecture.
Because the trade facility has (obviously) been built
with a minimal budget and there is very little building
to manipulate, the tectonics are simple and explicit.
The simple portal frame appears to have very little
structural redundancy, the external cladding is one of
the most common proprietary roof sheetings available
and the finishes are simple to the point of expediency.
How, then, has architecture been made out of these
impoverished pieces of building?
The most obvious gesture is encountered when
approaching the building from the street address. The
roof cladding has been faceted down the south wall to
make the building look as if it has a tubular form. This
illusion is enhanced by the insertion of an elliptical
window in the wall. The window is nothing more than
polycarbonate roof sheeting, but its largeness provides
a clear view of the trade facility’s spartan interior
and teaching activities. The tubular form is a popular
contemporary architectural concept, but in this case
the idea is used as a facade only. The remainder of the
building is the simple skillion roof typical of most
industrial sheds. I read the street elevation, with its large
window, as a sign of the building’s public presence.
The faceting of the facade reduces the impact of
the building’s height on the suburban street while also
creating a form that appears monumental. A section of
the facade is left as an open slot resembling the open
deck on the side of a boat. The main entry to the space
is an unsealed porthole and the entry ramp looks like
a gangplank. The composition has the feeling of an ark
providing refuge for a species of tertiary education.
There is no visible security, so the interior is stripped
of any material excess that could be vulnerable to
vandalism, giving the facility the appearance of being
still under construction. Inside, all the component
parts of the building are exposed as tutorial aids and
reflect the pragmatic nature of what is taught in this
simple space. The steel portal frames appear to be the
minimum structural size required, the south wall is
shaped by exposed roof trusses turned on their sides, the
secondary roof and wall framing is neatly left exposed
and the floor is a simple concrete slab or dirt floor yet to
be plumbed. The elements are rationally ordered and in
combination with the (evident) thinness of the cladding
they make the building seem delicate in contrast with
the robust activities it houses. The impression is of the
intricate workings of an electronic device.
When I discussed the building with Paul Morgan,
he expressed a desire for it to have been all white to
emphasize a machine aesthetic. This reference to the
ideas of Modernism, in which buildings would be
universally white, has a nostalgic element but also
refers to contemporary household whitegoods or
gadgets such as the Apple iPod.
The plan of the trade facility is inarticulate
compared to the form. There is no requirement to
resolve a complex arrangement of spaces, so the
building seems to fi t the stereotype of a simple shed.
Looking more closely reveals an idiosyncrasy that
belies the simplicity of the shed. The western end of the
building is cut open on an angle, making the plan look
as if it has been torn. The interior is exposed for all to
observe. The ragged end is made safe with an industrial
handrail to prevent anyone falling off the edge, and you
can imagine the Box Hill apprentices gathering along
the handrail at the end of the day to review and discuss
their work. This one simple planning device animates
the plan of the building as a stage for rehearsal and
reflection on the drama of making buildings.
Peter Bickle is a senior associate at Ashton Raggatt
McDougall and a sessional teacher at RMIT.
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The roof cladding facets down the southern wall.
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The interior space is stripped of any material excess that could be vulnerable to vandalism.
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Detail of the exposed trusses that shape the southern wall.
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BOX HILL TAFE TRADES FACILITY, BOX HILL
Architect
Paul Morgan
Architects—project
team Paul Morgan,
Karla Martinez,
Yau Ka Man.
Services, structural
and civil engineers
Irwin Consult.
Quantity surveyor
Wilde & Woollard.
Building surveyor
BSGM.
Contractor
ADCO Constructions.
Client
Box Hill Institute
of TAFE.
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Copyright © 2010 Architecture Media Pty Ltd
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