Aquinas College – J Block

Wed Jan 21 2026
Aquinas College – J Block

Aquinas College – J Block

Designing a sustainable, with expressed timber structure

Aquinas College is a state-integrated catholic secondary school, located in Tauranga. We were engaged to design a specialist, single-level classroom block for arts and music lessons for 250 plus students. The building features seven main teaching spaces along with multiple breakout rooms, staff spaces and toilets.

We worked closely with Ignite Architects to develop a sustainable, predominantly timber-framed structure.

Benefits of having us on the team:

We brought our expertise in timber structures along with an eye to the Architectural intent to the project. We took care to design the exposed timber structure with aesthetically pleasing structural details. This looks great, allows students to see what structures look like and can be used as a teaching aid.
We balanced sustainability, aesthetic, and cost requirements by using some structural steel elements where they could be hidden within the wall and ceiling spaces.
Alongside the design of the new J Block, the project also involved refurbishing a large existing teaching block. We undertook a seismic assessment and developed a simple solution to improve the seismic rating with no impact on the functionality of the building and at a minimal cost.