|
|
Feb. 17, 2006
A home fit for King David
Architects created a space tailored to Jewish independent school.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
The airy new home for King David High School was a long time in
coming. Mooted for several years before construction began, it took
a major community campaign to reach completion.
Students first got to see the multi-million dollar building on 41st
near Oak when they arrived for classes on Sept. 6 of last year.
Formerly known as Maimonides High School, Vancouver Jewish High
School and Vancouver Talmud Torah High School, King David (KDHS)
is now home to 137 Jewish teens. With a vaulted roof, wireless Internet
access, a music and dance studio and space for worship, the school
combines tradition with high-tech.
Architect Mark Ostry led the design team. His firm, Acton Ostry
Architects (run by Ostry and business partner Russell Acton), was
first approached about the project close to six years ago.
"The project was initiated by Vancouver Talmud Torah and we've
always stayed associated with it," said Ostry. "We spent
the first couple of years studying the feasibility of numerous different
sites around the city before the current site was purchased."
With a strong background in designing community and educational
buildings, the firm was "a good fit" once the project
went to tender.
Acton Ostry has worked on a wide range of projects, from downtown
loft conversions to places of worship (Congregation Har El was another
Acton Ostry brainchild) to museums. Most are in a style – pitched
wood roofs, Zen-like interiors – that Ostry describes as "West
Coast modernism."
"We like to use materials native to this region, including
a lot of heavy timber," he said. "It's a material that's
native to the Pacific Northwest and you can trace its roots back
to First Nations architecture. Beyond that, a lot of times what
defines buildings in Vancouver, we think, are the roofs, because
in a mild climate, where the element you're trying to protect yourself
from or shelter yourself from is water and rain, not so much the
cold, it means that the roof becomes the dominant architectural
element and the wall actually can break down – because it's
mild, it can be mostly glass. We have big overhangs. It means that
outdoor areas can still be protected from the rain and the roof
becomes more expressive. We like to use natural materials ... materials
in the state that they get made in ... we like the relationship
between cold materials and warm materials; wood against concrete
- we like that sort of composition."
KDHS has a polished concrete floor – a look the architects
had no objection to that also cut down on costs. One of the design
elements Ostry is most proud of is the central hall, which doubles
as a cafeteria and worship space and serves as a gathering place
for students.
At first, there were concerns about the ability of the room, which
has no walls, to serve so many purposes and maintain a level of
privacy. Those fears were allayed by grading the room's elevation.
Now, said Ostry, "There's a lot of interaction between the
students. I've been up there just when the lunch bell goes and I
never imagined how much good use it would get; kids just running
through the structure and using the built-in bench seating.
"People spend a great deal of time in the main hall, and why
shouldn't it be comfortable and a place to sit and hang out and
talk? I remember in high school a lot of having to sit on the floor
at lunchtime. I think that's indicative of most schools: you're
sitting on the floor and people are stepping over you and you find
the radiator for a little warmth."
Some of the design elements also reflect the fact that KDHS is a
Jewish independent school – the multipurpose space that also
serves as a sanctuary and the use of Jerusalem stone as a building
material, for instance. The landscaping was drawn entirely from
biblical sources by Cornelia Oberlander. There are five gardens
surrounding the school featuring plants grouped according to Israel's
geography: the Coastal Plain, the
Hill Country, the Jordan Valley and the Negev. There's the moss
garden, the grain garden, the herb garden, the water garden and
the orchard garden. Oberlander did extensive research on plants
found in the Bible, including syrian hyssop, sweet bay, willow,
pomegranate, plane trees, cedar of Lebanon and sweetgum. These plants
are intended to act, in a way, as a hands-on teaching tool: for
example, apples from the orchard can be picked and dipped in honey
at Rosh Hashanah.
The KDHS building, like other Acton Ostry projects, also puts to
good use what some might call Vancouver's biggest negative. Undertaking
to "celebrate the rain, rather than always fighting it,"
the firm creates ways to channel rainwater from the roofs of buildings.
For this project, "We pluck the rainwater off the main roof
and bring it to two areas on the terrace garden," Ostry explained.
"One of the areas, at the highest point, you actually see the
water come off the trough and pour into the garden. There's a water
garden, so all the water goes in there and travels down the length
of the site – and during that time that it's travelling, it
gets filtered and evaporates a lot, so we're putting less water
into the city sewer system. It's creating a more sustainable building."
Ostry believes community consultation and input are critical when
working on projects like this.
"We get so much satisfaction working on public buildings,"
he noted. "Part of that satisfaction is working with the public.
So the consultation is a critical process to understanding what
people's wishes, desires and aspirations are – and then we
always feel that we try to go beyond their expectations."
Although Ostry said all the firm's projects are special, he conceded
that, "There's huge pride in working on a Jewish institutional
project and there's definitely a sense of obligation to do your
best for the community."
^TOP
|
|
