Adelaide High School, Adelaide

Located on West Terrace, on the edge of the parklands which surround the CBD of the South Australian capital, the Adelaide High School is a stunning building. Built in red brick, architects Edward Fitzgerald and John R Brogan have combined simple geometric shapes to produce this lovely building.

Construction began in 1947 when the existing nearby buildings no longer met the needs of the growing high school with the current building opening in 1951. The main entrance is set back from the street protected by a semi-circular office area protruding from the building face. This part of the building is a mass of rectangles of different sizes and heights allowing the building to present itself on multiple three-dimensional planes.

The two-storey wing of classrooms sweeping in a elegant curve to the left of the office make the building for me. Even this facade is not a single dimension surface. The first third of the wing juts out several metres from the remaining two thirds. A concrete eyebrow provides shade for the ground floor windows. The continuous horizontal bands of windows accentuate the sleek look of the building.

Adelaide High School took my breath away when I got to see it in person. One of my all time Art Deco favourites, but then I've got so many.