HE International School, erected Ter the Lutheran Church (Mis- souri Synod) at Repulse Bay, Hong Kong Island, is now half way through its first year of operation.
Built primarily to serve the Ameri- can community in the Colony, the school has a total enrolment of 750 pupils from kindergarten age to high
а There is school-grade 12. manent teaching staff of 40.
per-
Entirely air-conditioned, the school has a very high standard so far as space and teaching facilities are con- cerned. This was considered of prime importance by the sponsors since the curriculum is based entirely on the American system and aims at allowing each student to develop in- dividually. Flexibility is a keynote of the teaching, and thus of the school design, as pupils enter the school from a variety of backgrounds and abilities vary considerably within the same age group.
Standard classrooms, in which all lessons are taken with the same teacher, are provided up to Grade 6. while Grades 9 to 12 are completely departmentalised. The average size of a class is 30 pupils.
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The eight-storey school and its as- sociated church the Church of All Nations is located near the junction of South Bay Road and Repulse Bay Road in a newly developed residential area. A new road from South Bay Road forms a loop around the site and there is a drop of 80 ft. from the southern to the northern boundary.
The architects have taken advantage of the steep slope by placing the school's main entrance at mid-level- or fourth floor level. The church, the lobby, administrative offices, head- master's room,
covered playground
and cafeteria are all at this level, vertical circulation of the senior and junior pupils being kept separate by
placing the primary school classrooms on the floors below and the high school classrooms, library and labora- tories on the floor above.
Positioning the school building along the northern boundary or lowest portion of the site reduced not only the vertical circulation but also the costly site formation work. It also allowed the creation at fifth floor level of the large children's play- ground an unusual feature in an area which permits only high rise development.
The lowest level of the building is for parking, mechanical plant, care- taker's quarters and service area. On the floor above this are the music room and the large gymnasium which extends through two floors below the covered playground area. In this way the noisy elements are divorced from the rest of the school.
Since the building is fully air-con- ditioned the first school in Hong
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Ground or fourth floor level showing covered play area beneath church
Far East BUILDER, April 1968.
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