Argall

Wangaratta District Special School

The Wangaratta District Specialist School is a VSBA (Victorian School Building Authority) funded learning hub that caters for students with diagnosed intellectual disabilities. The new school building, landscape and sports court provide spaces featuring purposely designed spaces and sensory devices that help students with the development of skills that encourage independent living beyond the school years. It is a point of reference for the entire North Eastern region of Victoria.
The structure is a single storey composite steel-timber lightweight form. The structural timber floor is suspended on concrete piers ensuring proper underfloor ventilation to maximise occupants comfort, structure durability, as well as asset protection against flood events. The complex roof geometry features multiple pop-up volumes with significant fall gradients that have been resolved by a complex but efficient primary steel frame with infill timber joist to reduce both weight, fabrication and erection costs. Façade set-backs together with glazed surfaces have been accommodated adopting a framing system that maximises load path efficiency and minimise material and erection costs.

Architect:

Year:

Construction Budget:

Challenges:

Sibling Architecture
2021-2024
$4.5m
Geotechnical constraints together with special equipment requirements required creative structural solutions to allow fabrication within budget, easy delivered and erection on site by non-specialised builder. The remote location from the Metropolitan area required additional considerations to account for transportation limitations. Non-standard connections were designed and detailed to overcome the geometrical and performance limitations of commercially available connectors. Tender options were also included, designed and detailed in a way such that their adoption does not affect the base option design and erection. A re-design of the structural floor was required to include a tender option for a lightweight cold-form floor system. This was to account for an increased cost of a conventional timber floor system due to COVID related timber supply shortage.

Architect:

Sibling Architecture

Year:

2021-2024

Construction Budget:

$4.5m

Challenges:

Geotechnical constraints together with special equipment requirements required creative structural solutions to allow fabrication within budget, easy delivered and erection on site by non-specialised builder. The remote location from the Metropolitan area required additional considerations to account for transportation limitations. Non-standard connections were designed and detailed to overcome the geometrical and performance limitations of commercially available connectors. Tender options were also included, designed and detailed in a way such that their adoption does not affect the base option design and erection. A re-design of the structural floor was required to include a tender option for a lightweight cold-form floor system. This was to account for an increased cost of a conventional timber floor system due to COVID related timber supply shortage.
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ANDREW GALL, Director

Argall was founded in 2017 by Andrew Gall, an engineer with a passion for complex design and breaking the mould. His work experience as a senior structural engineer across a variety of project disciplines made him realise there was a real need for a bespoke people and service-oriented structural engineering consultancy that would inspire sustainability practices and innovation often lacking in big companies.

This is over and above his experience in traditional procurement roles, his work with builders in the design and construct field, managing projects in sport, tertiary education, the arts and zoological fields, as well as community, commercial, residential and multi- residential enterprises. With such a wealth of knowledge and understanding of different design methodologies, he has the expertise to challenge the status quo in his new venture.

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