La Salle College Launches New Trade Skills Centre

Located in a traditional working class suburb characterised by early settlement buildings built from classic Midland bricks from the nearby brickworks, the buildings throughout La Salle College feature a similar iconic red brick palette.

The Team's design of the new Trade Skills Centre sought to not only complement this tradition but also add a distinct sense of craft through careful brickwork detailing and in the simplicity of the building forms.

Being a centre for teaching students lifelong lessons in trade, the team were keen to provide the School with an attractive, timeless, robust and durable building with quality features that would encourage users of the facility to take pride in their new learning environment and look after the building.

Midland Brick's Red Smooth bricks were used throughout the building externally and internally.

Decorative diagonal dog-toothing, alternating stepped coursing & deep reveals were used to help define key features such as windows, while 3-course high soldiers were used more traditionally along the tops of walls & openings to help accentuate the horizontal lines of the building forms.

The decorative play of brickwork creates constantly changing shadows & shades of colour throughout the day along the walls and around the windows.

Heavy Duty Red clay pavers surround the new facility to seamlessly connect with the existing School and provide a robust base for service traffic.

Internally, the use of face brickwork provides a much needed robust & durable finish in a tough workshop environment with the careful detailing complementing other refined finishes such as timber, stone & glass.

Architect - Parry & Rosenthal Architects

Builder - EMCO Building

Masonry Contractor - G&R Bricklaying

Brick Manufacturer - Midland Brick / Boral

Completion - Jan 2015