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Click to view large map Coordinates: | DELAREY PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR THE TRANSVAAL PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION The Problem A site for the School was secured in a densely populated area within the Roodepoort-Maraisburg Municipality, close to the Johannesburg Municipal boundary and bounded on three sides by minor suburban roads. The usual minimum area required by the Provincial Authorities for a school site is two morgen [1,7 Ha], but as a site of this size was unobtainable in the area, the school had to be planned on a site of barely three acres [0,8Ha], which in addition falls 25 feet [7,5m] from North to South over a length of some 380 feet [144m]. The rocky nature of the site precluded any extensive excavation. A primary school was required consisting of eight conventional classrooms with provision for four future classrooms together with the concomitant accommodation and provision for a future assembly hall. The Solution The restricted site and the necessity for the maximum playground area dictated that the school buildings should cover a minimum area and for this reason a three-storeyed building was erected. Taking advantage of the considerable fall across the site the children's cloakrooms and lavatories were placed on the lower ground floor together with the school kitchen and food stores. These units are thus placed in a close relationship to the main playgrounds to the South of the site, and at the same time are easily accessible via the two main staircases from the classrooms above. The Grades classrooms, which demand a certain degree of segregation from the remainder of the school, are sited to the North of the main block where the natural ground level places them at a level equal to that of the upper ground floor of the main block. Access to the main block and the cloakrooms and lavatories is via a covered way. A special walled play terrace has been provided on the North side of the Grades classrooms with direct access from the classrooms. The windows to these rooms overlook the terrace. The Administrative core of the school, consisting of the Principal's and Secretary's Office, Staff Room and Cloaks, is at upper ground floor level in a wing projecting to the North of the main block, thus affording the necessary isolation from the noise of the playgrounds while at the same time permitting adequate control of the whole school by the Principal. The Administration core is also strategically placed in relation to the main public entrance, with its Foyer providing access to the future Assembly Hall. The two offices and the Staff Room thus have North and East light, and the Secretary's office has an enquiry hatch providing direct communication with the Main Public Entrance. Above this unit, on the First Floor, is situated the Arts and Crafts Room and Store which are lit from the North, as is desirable. The eight ordinary classrooms are arranged four on the Upper Ground Floor and four on the First Floor with a staircase on either side of them. Access corridors are on the North side of the classrooms and can be extended to the West to provide access to two future classrooms at each floor level. The cycle shed is placed at Lower Ground Floor level on the South side of the building, adjacent to the main Children's Entrance, and combines a retaining wall to the upper terraced portion of the site. A similar retaining wall demarcates the Main Public Entrance to the building from the East. The outbuildings comprising a general school store and Native Living Quarters, are situated in the South-West corner of the site. Construction and Finish The multi-storey nature of the building called for a reinforced concrete framed structure which has been expressed in the elevations. Dark blue faced brick, red faced brick and coloured plaster panels have been used to express the functions of the various parts of the building and faced brick dados have also been used extensively internally with a view to reducing maintenance costs. Corrugated iron was considered the most suitable roofing material for reasons of economy and function. In the classrooms, the walls are distempered above the faced brick dados while the two end walls are fitted with slate blackboards, fibre pinning boards and some cupboards. All other rooms are also distempered with the exception of Cloakrooms, and the Kitchen and Food Stores which are oil-painted. The Staff lavatories are tiled. The walls of the Children's cloakrooms and lavatories have a faced brick dado up to door-head height and steel door jambs are used throughout the building. All classrooms, the offices and the Staff Room are heated by radiators supplied with hot water from the Boiler Room on the Lower Ground Floor. In the absence of a sewerage scheme in this area, it has been necessary to build a conservancy tank and soakage pits so that a water-borne system of waste removal may be employed. The associate Architects responsible for the design are Messrs. Rogers Cooke and Partners and Messrs. Harold Porter and Partners ; Quantity Surveyors, Messrs. Quail and Quail, and the Contractor Mr. C. T. Oschger. The school was completed in August, 1948. (PWSA December 1948 Vol IX No 61:18-21). |
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