Sheppard & Rout Architects have transformed a supermarket warehouse into a modern educational facility for Marian College, balancing preservation and innovation to create a modern school. The colours and acoustics of Kingston and Havelock carpet tiles from Advance Flooring help tie this remarkable project together.

Marian College’s original site in Christchurch east became a red zone following the 2011 earthquakes. After securing this new site in Northcote, with the intention to remove the old warehouse, "instead, they chose to reuse the existing 10,000 sqm warehouse and create buildings within the building," says Mel North, Senior Interior Designer at architects Sheppard & Rout. "As far as we are aware, this is the first school building of its kind in the world."

The new campus has 26 classrooms, a full gymnasium, multi-use indoor courts, a performing arts theatre, and a chapel featuring a large oak cross made from a tree on the school’s original site. The designers have used a varied colour palette of Kingston and Havelock carpet tiles to both unify the interior and demarcate the different spaces.

"The school buildings are square and rectangular, dictated by the budget, so a focus of the flooring was to soften the space as well as guide people through the school, like a river running through a forest."

"Clusters of colour are used to define various spaces, including the school's traditional red and blue — red is used for staff and communal areas, blue is used outside classrooms and student spaces, and grey flooring is used in all classrooms."

Havelock and Kingston carpet tiles are especially suited for education environments, and with Comfort Backing have an acoustic rating of 25dB, which provides the necessary noise absorption for spaces on the school’s second floor. With the tiles installed over almost 7,000m², it was also essential that they be ex-stock to fit within the project’s financial constraints.

"Budget dictated we select from stock items only and make it work with thoughtful design and colour choices," says Mel. "Advance Flooring had an amazing input into the design, showing us how we can create a special look and feel while keeping flooring costs down."