File 13.0 - AI Falah School

10 photographs

File includes 10 photograph slides of model. The Al Falah Trust, in Makkah, commissioned a limited design competition for a boys' private school to accommodate 1 000 male students. It was the client's intention that the Makkah School would provide a model for the planning and design of two or three schools in different cities in Saudi Arabia. There were four main design objectives for the school: to support and enhance the progressive educational approach of the Al Falah Trust; to establish a clear physical identity for the school that reflects both its noble traditions and high academic ideals; to provide modem teaching facilities that include the latest technology, laboratories, and computer and audio visual aids; and to incorporate the traditional Islamic spatial concepts and motifs with particular respect and sympathy for the Mogul Islamic forms, while reflecting the spirit of the traditional architecture of the Hejaz in general and of Makkah in particular. The site was planned with an introverted form, with buildings extending right up to the limited site boundaries. Within the relatively opaque exterior walls, a series of courtyards were created, around which were located the main functional components and building masses. A colonnade was cut into the ground floor of most buildings to provide shade and soften the interior-exterior transition. Small domes or cupolas were used to give emphasis to a number of major elements of the complex including the entrances to each of the main buildings. The three main academic components - an elementary, secondary, and high school - were complemented by a 1 000-seat auditorium with backstage areas, a gymnasium and swimming pool complex, a central administration unit, a mosque, ancillary play fields, and parking. In addition to the school (19 500 m2), the project also included substantial commercial and residential development (10 400 m2) located along the major road that formed the site boundary on the north. This development both protected the school from extraneous traffic noise and provided it with a revenue source.