Our extension to St. Laurence O’Toole NS is complete. This project centred around the idea of amalgamating the separate boys and girls schools that had operated side by side for over 170 years.

Our proposal involved the full restoration and conservation of the protected school buildings, with energy efficiency and ventilation upgrades to provide the best environments for teaching and learning. We connected the two buildings with a contemporary glass and corten steel extension that would provide a library, an assembly space, pocket roof terraces and administration facilities all connected by circulation space that enables social interaction, opportunities for small lessons and play on rainy days.

The library is placed up above an existing stone wall on the corner of St. Laurence Place East and Seville Place, and takes in views of the historic streetscapes through the tree canopies which gives a connection with nature in this urban environment. The materiality of the new contemporary interventions are sympathetic to the adjacent brick and stone structures and create a new awareness of the school to the public.