Architect in running for State accolade

Architect Kent Lyon has been nominated for a WA Architecture Award for his firm’s multi-million dollar refurbishment of Bunbury Primary School.

Known as the Bunbury Primary School Lighthouse renewal, Kent Lyon Architects began the project in November 2008 and finished in the middle of last year.

Funded by the State Government, the brief was to convert the out-of-date 1960s school into a contemporary campus in a number of stages while ensuring renovations did not disrupt the day-to-day running of the school at any time.

Mr Lyon, whose three children all attended Bunbury Primary, jumped at the opportunity to take charge of the project after he was approached by Building and Management Works.

“Our family home used to be just across the road from the school and my office is just a couple of streets over,” Mr Lyon said.

“I’m very familiar with the school and thought it would be a fantastic community-oriented project that posed a lot of interesting challenges.

“Basically, the idea was to try and update the school at a fraction of the cost of knocking everything down and rebuilding.”

Mr Lyon listened to input from teachers, parents and members of the local community before setting about refurbishing the school’s existing buildings.

“The school had really had no major renovations since it was built in 1962 so there was a lot of work that needed to be done,” he said.

“We built an entirely new library and reconfigured a lot of the classrooms and the administration building to make better use of the available space.”

“For example, before the project, the staff room was tiny and doubled as a cooking classroom and the art room was an old converted cloak room.

“Now everything has its own place and the staff room is actually big enough to hold meetings in.”

Bunbury Primary School principal Shane Doherty said he could not be happier with the changes.

“It’s honestly as if we’ve moved from a submarine to an aircraft carrier,” he said.

“What Kent and his firm have achieved is even more amazing considering they were working in a live campus environment and had to constantly coordinate with staff, parents and the builders.”

The WA Architecture Awards winners are announced on July 5.