RANGI-RURU BUILDING PROJECT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31231, 1 December 1966, Page 20

RANGI-RURU BUILDING PROJECT

Rangi - ruru Presbyterian School for Girls next Tuesday afternoon will dedicate and officially open the new buildings shown in this architect’s drawing. To the right (on Hewitt’s road) is the big assembly hall-chapel with an entrance foyer at the side; behind it is a two-storey block with cookery department on the ground floor and music appreciation and film rooms above; still further back are class and music rooms. The square block at rear left is the new memorial library. The architects were Messrs Hollis and Leonard, the contractors were Messrs Husband Brothers, Ltd., and the contract price was £62,324. The major part of the cost will be met from a building appeal which, in 1964, raised more than £70,000. To this has been added a £5400 gift from the Rangi-ruru Old Girls’ Association’s Gibson memorial fund, a bequest of

£5OOO from Mr J. W. Graham, and a gift of £3BOO from the Parent-Teacher Association. These funds will also be used for furnishing. The assembly hall has a clear floor area of 100 ft long and 50ft wide. It has a sanctuary at the end facing Hewitt’s road, and a stage at the other end, under which there is 820 square feet of storage area. Accommodated in the under-stage area there is also a plant room which will house the equipment for warm-air heating for the hallOther spaces will be heated by hot water radiators which will be fed from a new boiler house. Behind the stage, a twostorey block contains (on the ground floor) a cookery room and (on the upper floor) a large room for music appreciation and films, together with a projection room and dressing rooms. Linking this block to the library are four music rooms and a senior classroom. The library is given some prominence in the group by elevating it and also thereby providing for cycle accommodation at ground level.

The assembly hall has a glazed painted dado on the. side walls, and, above, cream brickwork with portions protruding to a pattern for acoustic and decoration purposes, while the end walls surrounding the proscenium openings to stage and sanctuary are acoustically treated. The stage is provided with adjustable curtains for backdrops and other purposes, and overhead stake lighting will be installed to suit the various types of performances. Warm air in the colder months and cool air in the summer will be injected from a plenum which runs the length of the hall at ridge level. The cookery room is planned with five bays containing steel benches with sinks and domestic-type cupboard units projecting from the latter. Cookers will be at the end—three electric and two gas. A pantry, demonstration bench, refrigerator, and laundry equipment are incorporated. Acoustic treatment for the music appreciation and film room is provided and, adjacent to the dressing room, costume storage is included.

Undue sound transference between music rooms has been avoided by their construction and materials used. One room is larger than the other three for the use of small groups. The library has a floor area 48ft by 24ft and will be heated by “baseboard” heating units below the wall shelving. It contains a workroom for repair and other work and also a separate bay for magazines and newspapers.