Innovation At Best

The city of Orange is located in the Central West region of New South Wales approximately 200 kilometres west of the bustling state capital, Sydney. Once known as a small, quiet country town, Orange is currently in the midst of a population boom with growth rates exceeding those of many major metropolitan centres. It’s easy to understand why the city has boomed; with a strong agriculture industry, brilliant food and fabulous wine, this dynamic regional centre has plenty to offer.

To address the needs of a growing community, changes to the city’s facilities needed to occur. One of these facilities is the Orange Christian School Library. The school understood that there was a need for a new Library Learning Centre to ensure top notch facilities for their students.

Greg Swankie of Geolyse Orange Architects worked alongside builders Hines Constructions to create a new and dynamic venue for Orange Christian School. The school had a strict brief which was to ensure the new Library Learning Centre propelled the school into the 21st Century, with an enhanced learning environment for all of their students. It was important for the school that the Library embraced the latest technology and created an innovative facility that engaged both students and staff. Greg Swankie at Geolyse Orange Architects came up with a unique design that presented a number of opportunities for attractive and functional learning spaces.

The design incorporated a large glass wall that allowed the school to take advantage of the brilliant landscape that surrounds them. The design incorporated large expanses of glazing as well as uniquely shaped frames, so an experienced window manufacturer was required to create the windows with the same perfection the rest of the building was created with. Taberner Glass was used for the job due to their exceptional 85 years of experience in the window manufacturing industry as well as their ability to custom make frames with sharp, unconventional angles. The Elevate™ Aluminium Systems Series 426 FrontGLAZE™ framing also enabled Taberner’s success with this project. The ability of the frames to be double glazed appealed to the architect, builder and client alike. The completed project was a success with Taberner Glass being congratulated on their ability to create such unique frames.

The striking look of the windows fits well with the architecturally inspired new Library Learning Centre. Light now spills into the new Library which allows for a bright, cheerful learning environment. The large glass wall promoted a comfortable and relaxing space for students as well as staff. High performance insulated glass units were used throughout the project to maximise thermal efficiency. Thermal efficiency also allows for less artificial heating and cooling methods, therefore reducing electricity consumption. The entire project has been completed to perfection and is now home to an inspiring learning environment for the students at Orange Christian School.