Page 10 - Landscape-Issue146

PROJECT

BROADACRES SENIOR PREP SCHOOL

Project Team
Client: Thrive Education + Broadacres Academy
Architect: Skye Architects
Landscape Architect: Walt Landscape Architects
Landscape Contractor: FSG Group
Playscape Installation: Plant Elite Group
Vibrant blue, purple, white and yellow flowers were used at the main entrance to create a cheerful
atmosphere for learners.

Broadacres Academy consists of three campuses: the Pre + Primary + Junior
Prep, the Senior Prep campus and the High School campus. They are all situated
in Chartwell, Johannesburg. This article discusses the Senior Prep School, which

opened in 2024.

roadacres Academy is an educational for irrigation and toilet flushing, managing the within a natural environment. As one
institution that encourages students sewer with an on-site system, and restoring moves through the buildings, there are
Bto learn naturally. By focusing on the the landscape to its natural, indigenous state. always views connecting the interior with
natural environment, healthy relationships While the buildable area of the site was fairly the exterior, forming a link between nature
between students and the environment can limited due to its very steep contours and a and users of the space.
be established. riparian zone around the stream, the Skye A further layer to the design was to
The Broadacres Senior Prep School campus Architects team looked at it holistically. extend the classrooms into the landscape;
is the new home for senior preparatory The ‘learning naturally’ ethos of Broadacres this was achieved by creating built-in
students (GR4-6.) This age group is ‘learning Academy and Thrive Education’s vision to benches of stone work, carrying through to
through exploring’, on a site which comprises equip learners with the necessary skills to the stone ridge features of the site. Various
planting, numerous large trees, large stone thrive in life are at the core of this project. types of planters and natural floor finishes
ridges and a small stream at one end, Matt Mare, a director of Thrive Education (pavers, grass, stones, gravel and gum
surrounded by grasslands. Animals such as and Broadacres Academy Chairman of the poles) were used to create multiple pockets
bush babies, owls and sometimes deer make Board, says that the focus was for learning for learning.
their way up and down the stream. to “happen naturally”, and for children to be These outdoor spaces encourage
given the opportunity to experience nature students to learn and explore beyond the
Brief in a pristine environment. This is rare in an classroom walls, a valuable skill to thrive in
The brief from the client was to build a new urban/city environment. life.
campus for the senior prep students who He adds that at the senior preparatory The next threshold was to extend into the
needed to find their own identity within the school, children start to build more playscapes and landscapes, transferring the
school group. Heleen Mynhardt from Skye independence, and the campus allows them learners’ energy to free play and rebooting
Architects embraced the natural beauty to explore more freely than in the junior prep between formally structured classes.
of the site and integrated her designs with school. Playscapes were designed to make use of
nature to complement and acknowledge the natural elements as much as possible, such
surroundings. Design approach as treated gum poles for play equipment,
Green principals were also included, such The design approach to the building large boulders for seating, rocks for shaping
as harvesting rain water, using borehole water emphasised the fact that the school sits pathways, large tree trunk discs to create

8 Landscape SA • Issue 146 2025 Check us out www.salandscape.co.za