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Water tower
Detail showing contrast of shanghai plaster finish to tower and off-form concrete finish to water tanks
Courtyard classroom
separating block and administrative block
access to the administration sec- tion, the therapy section (for out- patients), staff quarters and the main kitchen.
The two-storey block fronting on to the road and the vehicular entrance contains the administrative offices and the therapy section on the ground floor, and staff quarters on the first. The remaining two blocks house all the children's activities
one block containing the dormitories, the other, classrooms, recreation room, dining hall and kitchen.
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The blocks are separated by long. sunny courtyards which can be used for recreation purposes or for open air teaching. To the rear of the site, in a sheltered position, is a large covered playground.
Off-form Concrete
In situ reinforced concrete beams and columns were used for the struc- ture and these are simply expressed on the facades. The design of the build- ing is highlighted by the use of sloping roofs over the main block, assembly hall and covered playground. The remaining single-storey blocks are flat-roofed. Ceiling height in the corridors has been dropped to allow cross-ventilation to the rooms on either side.
Thus the centre. when viewed from above, presents a pleasant pat- tern of varying roof planes, broken by the strong, sloping lines of the butterfly roofs. Rising above the group of long horizontal pavilions is the dominant form of the water tower a dramatic vertical contrast to the rest of the complex.
The architects have tried to em- phasise these various external ele- ments in their use of finishes, The sloping surfaces of the roofs and the water tanks are off-form concrete,
patterned with deep grooves; the columns, beams and parapets are grey and white Shanghai plaster; the panels between the columns are a dark brown plaster with a textured trowel finish. Windows are framed
Far East Architect & Builder April, 1967