Randwick Preschool

Project Information/Data

Date: 2020 - 2024
Client: Montessori Academy
Supercontext Team: Colette Hortle, Caitlin Miller, Andrew Daly
Consultant Team: Weir Phillips Heritage, Capital Engineering Consultants, Stellen Consulting, BCA Logic/Jensen Hughes, Holmes Fire, JJMetroWest Mechanical, Watermans (Hydraulic)
Built by: Verity Construction
Photography: Hamish McIntosh
Renders: CHOIRENDER

Constructed in stages betwen c1860-1880s, "Newmarket House" sits at the centre of the historic Newmarket stables precinct and horse-racing industry associated with the original Randwick Racecourse. Originally surrounded by stables, training grounds and rings, Newmarket House served as a hotel, residence and home for a number of families associated with the racing industry until the early 2000s. Subsequently Newmarket House became part of a wider redevelopment of the site into high-density, high-quality apartments and public spaces.

The project involves the partial demolition of later additions and the retention and restoration of the principal dwelling, with a rear addition in an "L-shape" creating a courtyard between old house and new childcare centre. Supported by a basement providing on site pick-up and drop-off (council requirements), the project features a curved roof form sitting atop a collonaded podium. Accommodating over 80 children, the preschool sits at heart of a significant new residential precinct.

(left) Viewed from the adjacent park, Newmarket House is a significant heritage house associated with Randwick's history of horse racing, breeding and trading throughout the 19th and 20th century. The principal elevation of the house was retained, including the restoration of the heritage verandah, slate roof and landscape setting. Nestled under two significant fig trees, the front 'carriageway' is now an open playground space for the preschool.

(below, left) Front courtyard playspace
(below, right) Restored western elevation to main street

(right) Heritage window hoods were restored or reproduced on the western facade, producing shade and deep shadows. Copper gutters, chimneys, slate roof and fascia boards were also renovated to ensure the ongoing retention of the significant heritage dwelling.

(bottom, left) The reconstructed western wing protects an internal courtyard and maintains the original heritage setting of Newmarket House.

(bottom, right) The restored verandah and central planter incorporates natural landscaping as part of the outdoor nature play, protected and shaded by two significant heritage fig trees in the adjacent reserve.

(left) The central courtyard play space sits between heritage house, reconstructed western wing and a new L-shaped addition that sits over the basement and wraps around the heritage house itself. Offering shaded playspaces on all 4 sides of the courtyard via a continuous verandah, the central play ground is the heart of the new centre with the majority of classrooms accessed off or around it.

(below, right) Ground floor plan

(left) The western wing features a gabled roof form taking advantage of the heritage form of the wing to provide tall, generous classroom spaces. The wing benefits from views into the central courtyard and dual-aspect access to light and air from both sides of the long rooms.

(below) Restoration works including the pressed metal ceiling were undertaken throughout the heritage house itself, with new additions reading as free-standing or removable pods free of the ceilings.

(left) Verandahs and deck wrap around the central courtyard providing shaded play and a covered walkway accessing classrooms around the perimeter of the protected playground. The architecture of the new wing is caught in between: at once contemporary with a rigorous expression of concrete structural blades as it is sitting beneath the gabled roof form of the original but reconstructed western wing.

(above) Presenting to a communal lawn and the apartment building to the east of the project, the eastern elevation is also read in relation to its context: precast concrete residential apartments adjacent with a rigorous structural grid is in dialogue with the childcare centre mediating heritage house with high-rise context. A curved zinc roof caps the southern side of the project - a cluster of geometries coming together atop a concrete base.

(left) The eastern facade is marked by projecting black window hoods, a contemporary take on the heritage window hoods resotred on the western facade. The structure is expressed simply, creating deep shadows and supporting a roof garden and setting back to a public thoroughfare between the project and its residential neighbours (multi-storey apartments)

(below, right) The project culminates in a curved roof sitting atop a concrete base. The rolled-zinc roof is setback from and defers to the residential neighbours, directing views from the adjacent apartments to the adjacent park and poublic domain while shielding the central courtyard playground.