• Location: Harrow
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2009
• Client: I-Foundation
• Architect: Cottrell & Vermeulen Website
• Size: 2,000m²
• Pupils: 234 [mixed]
• Construction Sum:£7M [2009]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

Krishna-Avanti is the first state-funded Hindu school in the UK and as such marks an important milestone in the creation of non-Christian faith schools. Its design and construction follows the traditional Vastu Shastra science which imposed specific requirements including; organising the school on a strict north-south grid, erecting the buildings on a flat site (facilitated through the construction of a level platform) and eliminating ferrous metals (including steel) from the construction due to the negative electro/magnetic fields they generate, interfering with meditation.

The school is set round a temple, built by Rajasthanian craftsmen, that provides the spiritual focus for the school. The temple is visible from all public spaces within the building placing it at the centre of daily life. A walkway to the temple has laser cut Mendhi designs to ease the transition between the simple modern building and the ornate temple. Hindu teaching provided a strong guide in the design - governors wanted the design to demonstrate the school’s philosophies.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

In addition to the specific set of faith-related requirements the building  performs to a very high environmental standard. 70% of the school’s heating is provided by ground source heat pumps. Krishna-Avanti also received one of the highest BREEAM scores of any school in the UK with 75.64% [yet to be certified by the BRE].

Integrated social and physical context

The creation of faith schools funded by the government is a hot-topic in the UK, where some view their establishment as a way of building community and others see them as a barrier to wider community cohesion. Krishna-Avanti’s admissions policy states that parents wishing to send their child to the school are ‘expected to support the ethos and values of the School.’ It is therefore not specifically aimed purely at practising Hindu’s, fulfilling its role as a community primary school.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

Certain activities (meals, yoga, music, religious festivities) are required to take place under the eyes of deities. The design of the building accommodates this requirement by creating a direct link between the main hall, ‘small’ hall and temple. Food has to be blessed by the deities before consumption and this arrangement enables children to do this simply without having to carry food long distances. Hand and mouth cleaning facilities are also provided in the small hall which are used in preparation for dining where everyone sits on the floor.

Examples of stakeholder and user participation in the design process

The specific Hindu requirements for the building made for a close relationship between the client body and architects. As Brian Vermeulen, architect, suggests, “The most important lesson (that can be applied to faith and non-faith schools) is that the more consultation that you have at the brief writing/ design stage, the more the school architecture will reflect the community it is designed for.” As well as consulting the local community, the architects consulted a range of wider stakeholders and undertook their own research in order to build a clear picture of what was required from this new building type. Workshops were held with parents and teachers from an existing private Hindu primary school to further understand faith aspects. Meetings with priests, Hindu scholars and visits to temples enabled a greater understanding of the specific and technical requirements.The participation carried on throughout the design and construction process with land being blessed by priests prior to construction and a foundation ceremony being held.

Sources

BD Article, Cottrell & Vermeulen’s Krishna-Avanti School in Harrow, 05 February 2010 By Ellis Woodman Website

Building Design Article. Brian Vermeulen on how the African site of Great Zimbabwe has influenced his work, 05 June 2009, by Brian Vermeulen Website

Conversations with Brian Vermeulen (architect), March/April 2010

Links

Krishna-Avanti Primary School Website

Project Facts

• Location: Solihull
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2008
• Client: Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
• Architect: Nicholas Hare Architects Website
• Size:unknown
• Pupils: 1400
• Construction Sum:unknown
• School building Programme/ Initiative: Building Schools for the Future (BSF)

Overview

The spaces created within and around the new Park Hall Academy in Solihull are finished with a level of refinement and simplicity not often seen in BSF projects; the use of colour and materials is restrained, proportions on the whole appear elegant and the internal spaces feel light and airy. The plan arrangement is clear and simple with three classroom wings radiating out from an arced spine building that accommodates more communal facilities. As a result Park Hall Academy won the award for 'Best Design for a New School' at the 2009 Partnerships for Schools Excellence in BSF Awards.

Themes

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

Park Hall School was designed with changing pedagogies in mind. Walls can be added or removed to create open teaching spaces and / or larger and smaller classrooms without detrimental affects to circulation or natural light. This system has already been tested when, shortly before the project was due to go on site, the proposed education model for the school was changed from a 'school within a school' arrangement to a departmental system. The in-built flexibility within the plans meant that this change could be accommodated without a major re-design.

Integrated social and physical context

The school is orientated to make the most of the long views available from the large open site. Double height glazing from the main entrance and cafe area onto the courtyards set between the departmental wings allows these views and the sky above to be framed and provides a real sense of openess in these communal spaces. 

The winged building design creates a number of sheltered courtyards and external spaces immediately around the building. These have been landscaped by FiRa in a mature and understated way that compliments the design of the building and creates external spaces that have a relationship to internal functions; an external dining area adjacent to the cafe, a performance area adjacent to the main entrance and opposite the main hall, and a sixth form break-out area by the sixth form entrance and cafe.

The wider landscape of the large school site has also been carefully considered. In particular tree-lined pedestrian and cycle routes to the school building that are distinctly separate from vehicular routes, put an emphasis on more sustainable ways to get to school.

Sources

Nicholas Hare Architects, 'Park Hall School', website

Links

Park Hall School, website

FiRa landscape architecture and urban design, website

Project Facts

• Location: Washington DC
• Country: USA
• Year of Completion: 2006
• Client: Sidwell Friends School
• Architect: Kieran Timberlake Website
• Size:3110m² refurbishment and 3620m² new build addition
• Pupils: 340
• Construction Sum:$28.5 million [2006]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

The refurbishment and extension of Sidwell Friends Middle School is part of a masterplan, also designed by Kieran Timberlake, to transform the buildings and landscape of the wider Sidwell Friends School campus. This particular part of the strategy extends and refurbishes the existing middle school building, constructed in the 1950s, with a scheme that is an exemplar of environmentally sustainable design. On its completion in 2006 the building was awarded LEED platinum status, the US Green Building Council’s highest possible green building certification.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

Environmental sustainability was the main driving factor behind the design response to improving and extending the Sidwell Friends Middle School; an approach that supports the school’s Quaker principles of sufficiency, stewardship and simplicity. When the idea of a ‘green’ building was put forward early on in the design process, the school realised the potential value that this approach could have, not only in terms of building performance, but also the much wider educational and environmental benefits it could create.

The addition of a new three storey wing to the existing cranked building creates an external courtyard which has been developed into a delightfully landscaped wetland area which treats the school’s waste water. After passing through the wetland, the water is in fact up to the same standards as the city’s drinking water, but legislation means that at this time it can only be used for toilet flushing. The terraced wetland, which has been constructed from reclaimed stone, also provides a rich wildlife habitat within the campus and an exciting educational resource.

New habitats have also been provided on the vegetated rooftop of the new build addition, whilst the existing roof area now houses a photovoltaic array that provides 5% of the school’s electricity needs. The façade of the existing building has also been transformed with high performance glazing, elements of timber cladding made from re-used cedar wine casks and a series of louvres (vertical on east and west facing walls and horizontal on south facing walls). These striking visual elements also continue across the façades of the new build element and provide a unity to the whole building.

Internally the environment is passively heated and cooled when and where possible. The external louvres and openable windows throughout help to control daytime temperatures. This is assisted in the new build element by solar chimneys on the roof which help to draw air up, through and out of the building. When air is moving through the chimneys, the building’s mechanical heat and ventilation systems are deactivated and chimes located in the shafts sound making the building's operation audible as well as visual.

In addition the pupils can monitor the building using the 'Building Dashboard' which monitors various aspects of the building' operation such as water and electricity consumption. Pupils can compare statistics between days, weeks, months and years and put them into understandable units such as electricity use in 'hairdryer hours'!

Recycled or re-used materials were used where possible within the construction and 78% of materials were sourced from with the 'region' (defined by a 500 mile radius around the school site) to reduce transportation needs. Displays about the materials used in the building have been integrated into school corridors so each successive generation can learn about how the building was made.

The process of refurbishing and extending this building has led the school to question many of its operations and the transformation has extended far beyond the construction of the middle school walls; the school's cleaning company has developed a new 'green' cleaning scheme, incentives are being offered for not coming to school in a car, and, perhaps most importantly, a new generation are learning about the world in which they live and how they can reduce their impact upon it from first hand experience.

Examples of stakeholder and user participation in the design process

In 2004, when this building was first being conceived, the adoption of such a committed approach to ‘green’ building was a bold move and one that was met with trepidation by some of the school’s board members, particularly in terms of putting the financial viability of the rest of the campus developments at risk. The school brought in a number of external experts to discuss what the creation of an environmentally sustainable school might mean.

To alleviate financial fears the school’s assistant head, who is also its chief financial officer, developed a ‘three-buckets’ approach spending; bucket one was for environmental strategies that were free or low cost to implement such as building orientation, bucket two was for those that would have a higher capital cost, but would financially pay back over a period of time such as insulating walls, the third bucket was for those which would not redeem themselves financially but would have a higher educational or environmental value which would make them worthwhile (such as the wetland development).  The board agreed that appropriate technologies or methods that fell into the first two buckets should be implemented whereas those in the third bucket would be used if budget permitted.

Sources

Timberlake, K., and Saxenian, M., 2009. 'Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington DC', DETAIL - School Modernization, 9 2009.

Sidwell Friends Middle School, The Green Middle School, Website

Sidwell Friends Middle School, MS Green Building, Website

Archidose, Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, District of Columbia by Kieran Timberlake Associates, Website

Architectural Record, Green building techniques match a school's structure to its Quaker values, Website

Links

Sidwell Friends Middle School, Green Building Media, Website

Lucid Design Group, Sidwell Friends School Building Dashboard, Website

Malin, N.  Case Study: Sidwell Friends Middle School. GreenSource: The Magazine of Sustainable Design. Website


US Green Building Council – LEED Awards Website


Chen, A., 2007. Teaching Tools. Metropolis Mag Website


AIA, Website

Project Facts

• Location: Leiden
• Country: The Netherlands
• Year of Completion: 2008
• Client: Gemeente Leiden Dienst Bouw & Wonen en Bureau Openbaar Onderwijs.
• Architect: Atelier PRO Website
• Size: 4,700m²
• Pupils: 900 [mixed]
• Construction Sum:€5,187,000 [2008]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

Creating a primary school for 900 pupils aged 3-11 without making it feel daunting is a difficult design challenge. An added complication in this instance was the need to design a school that also has an appropriate massing for the urban area in which the school is located. Lorentzschool overcomes these problems with a solid but approachable building. The external brick walls of the building are broken down to a more child-like scale through the careful manipulation of window openings, offering a visual connection between inside and out. Inside the building, classrooms are grouped in houses and pupils move up through the school as they grow older. Circulation spaces are cleverly articulated to include meeting spaces, an ICT suite and informal music areas. The aim is to have a legible plan for children to navigate through, but at the same time provide events round every corner so that children are also encouraged to explore.

Themes

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

Each year group of the school have their own floor, within which a series of houses have been organised, each with its own identity. Children are encouraged to explore the school building in the knowledge that they have the security of their own base to return to.

A series of event spaces have been created along the main circulation routes around the school, transforming corridors into more useable and enjoyable spaces. The ground to first floor stairs are used to as a meeting and congregation area, which then leads up to a flexible ICT space and several group meeting spaces along its length. Each space forms part of a route up through the building, augmented by windows looking on to the internal courtyard and roof lights flooding the space with natural light.

Integrated social and physical context

Lorentz School was designed as part of a wider urban regeneration project which included the creation of an apartment block by the same architects. Both projects look onto a new piazza which forms the focal point for the neighbourhood. This wider architectural remit helps to maintain a continuity of vision and the neighbourhood as a whole benefits from an architecturally coherent strategic design.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

The organisation of toilets is quite unique in that two cubicles are paired-up with hand basin in between. These units then line one side of the corridor and are associated with a particular classroom. This approach helps to reduce journeys by children to and from the classroom, and reduces the anxiety of using larger centralised toilet facilities.

Responses to developing integrated ICT

An ICT suite is cleverly integrated with an open access library and staircase. The inherent versatility accommodates group teaching and individual work for formal lessons and at break times. The book shelf units help to soak up the changes of level and turn into workstations for the tier above. Using steps to make the tiered space enables easy supervision, particularly from the top of the stairs, where a teacher could see all computer screens. Conversely, a teacher standing at the front may not be able to see all pupils as faces may be hidden behind the computer monitors.

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Sources

Schools: Education Spaces. Kramer, Sibylle. Braun. 2010

Links

Video of Lorentz School construction with tour of the building, led by pupils website

Project Facts

• Location: Stamford, Connecticut
• Country: USA
• Year of Completion: 2007
• Client: The Children's School
• Architect: Maryann Thompson Architects Website
• Size:1400 m²
• Pupils: 120
• Construction Sum:unknown
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

The design for this Montessori School for children aged 2-8 is based around the concept of a ‘one room schoolhouse’. The main learning areas all flow as one space, but are cleverly separated by shifting roof planes, changes in floor level and low furniture rather than walls. This concept of flowing spaces continues in the relationship between inside and outside; every space has a visual, and in most cases a physical, link with the tranquil wooded site in which the school sits. The natural environment is also high on the agenda in the school’s construction with the building obtaining a LEED certification.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

The natural setting of the school lends itself well to a ‘green’ approach to building; large south facing windows capture views but also passive solar gain, rainwater collection from the roof planes is used to create waterfalls in the landscape and deep roof overhangs prevent overheating in summer whilst providing sheltered external learning areas. In addition the building is naturally ventilated throughout, interior finishes are free from Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to create a healthy learning environment and natural or recycled, locally sourced materials have been used where possible. The building achieved LEED certification in 2009.

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

The Montessori approach is based around learning in an environment in which a number of physical objects are situated to stimulate natural instincts and self-directed learning in the children. The teacher or 'guide' is an observer who can manipulate this environment to encourage the children's natural responses. The ‘one room schoolhouse’ at The Children's School is a direct response to this method, allowing both easy observation of the children and manipulation of the environment. The large open spaces created in the new building can easily be adapted to create different situations with lightweight, low levels units that can be moved to demarcate different zones allowing spaces to be used for large group sessions or smaller, more focused activities.

Integrated social and physical context

The open plan nature of the new school buildings and the large amounts of glazing in both the walls and the roof allow the mature woodland that surrounds the site to be seen from every space within the building. Externally timber cladding has been used on walls and the soffits of the projecting roofs. In places these timber soffits continue internally and help to blur the boundary between inside and outside. The building is single storey throughout meaning the shifting roof planes that help to define internal space are also expressed externally and help to break down the volume of the building in its natural setting.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

Whilst the school is conceived as 'one room', the architects have created some delightful and intimate spaces at various points. For example in one corner a small library is nestled under a low roof plane with an inbuilt seat tucked below a window between the bookshelves. In another area one whole wall is covered in white board surface providing a place where the children can gather with a teacher, without a white-borad becoming the focal point in the room towards which everything is orientated.

Sources

Kramer, S., 2010. Schools: Education Spaces. Salenstein: Braun.

Links

The Children's School Website

• Location: Islington
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2008
• Client: London Diocesan Board for Schools
• Architect: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios Website
• Size:11,260 m²
• Pupils: 1360
• Construction Sum:£28,700,000 [2008]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: Academies Programme

Overview

St Mary Magdalene Academy sits on a tight urban site in the middle of Islington, London.  The site was previously occupied by an early years centre and primary school.  The project has increased the site's programme to include a secondary school with sixth form facilities.  The urban context of the site and a complex planning and development phase has lead to one of the best planned schools in the country.

The Architects, FCBS, have risen to the inherent challenges admirably, knitting together the three major components of the school [early years, primary and secondary schools] and locking them into the site, giving each its own unique spatial experience within a unified civic facade.  

Themes

Integrated environmental design

As with much of FCBS's work, the collaboration with Buro Happold has resulted in a building where sustainability is integral to the building, yet low key.  Solar orientation, natural lighting, ventilation and careful planning maximise the use of the site and are core to the buildings development.  Although too early to need to comply with recent carbon reduction measures, the strategies used to develop the St Mary Magdalene Academy are now informing new school planning.

Integrated social and physical context

The school sits within a predominantly domestic context, surrounded by two and three storey housing.  The architects have stacked the larger elements of the school - the hall/theatre and sports hall at the front end of the site, creating an element that speaks of the school's civic importance.  The remaining class blocks are stepped along a spine route that culminates in a four storey atrium.  This massing allows the building to rise and fall, respecting the form of the adjacent properties.

The new academy was sponsored by the London Diocesan Board for Schools.  The need for a new Christian school was debated at length during the project's development, eventually finding in favour of such a scheme.  The school has a small prayer room at the top of the atrium 'ark'.  The Christian identity of the school is further referenced through a large Ichthus [early Christian fish symbol] that is carved into the timber rainscreen on the school's front elevation.  The symbol is overlapped twice and is only read when the sun hits the screen obliquely.

The school cuts into the site, maximising the single storey rise from end to end.  The roofs are further used to gain vital space, providing room for a five-a-side sports pitch as well as green roofs and terraces that can be used as teaching spaces.  The playground areas have been as carefully considered as the building, creating a synthesis between internal and external space.  The main school hall is sunk by a storey into the ground at the front of the site.  This is then terraced back up to the level of the main playground, creating an amphitheatre space that enables the hall to turn towards the outside.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

Maintaining an individual identity for each of the three components of the school was paramount.  The secondary school is entered from the busy Liverpool Road end of the site, whilst the early years and primary school provision are entered independently from the opposite end of the site.  This helps to provide security and a sense of place to each age group.

New pedagogies and blended learning styles

It has been a decision of the school that innovative teaching methods should be the driver for the spatial configuration of the classrooms and not the other way around. However, alternative pedagogicla models explored at other schools such as Hellerup were rejected in favour of more traditional class spaces.  The project still manages to achieve spatial delight and a variety of experiences throughout the building.

Examples of stakeholder and user participation in the design process

The project was politically contentious during its early phases and led to extensive consultation with the staff, governors, Local Authority and planning departments, and local community.  The scheme had a difficult planning phase which included a local parent challenging the closure of the existing primary school on the grounds that it would compromise the children's human rights.  The resulting building illustrates the importance of engagement with the end users and the local community in developing a successful project that embeds itself into the community.

Sources

The Architect's Journal 24.09.09

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

Buro Happold Website

Churchman Landscape Architects Website

Links

Academy Website

Designing Libraries Website

Project Facts

• Location: Birmingham
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2008
• Client: Joseph Chamberlain College / LSC
• Architect: Nicholas Hare Architects Website
• Size:14,300 m²
• Pupils: 1250 [mixed]
• Construction Sum:£40M [2008]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

Joseph Chamberlain College has won many awards for creating an incredibly high quality learning environment, that has had a huge impact on local people living in one of the poorest areas in the country. Serving a population who are predominantly Muslim, the college is now over-subscribed, with a marked increase in the number of girls applying to school. This is in no small part down to the oasis that the new school building creates in the chaotic urban sprawl of warehouses, retail outlets and dual-carriageways.  Solidity, calm and openness is created through careful arrangement of buildings around three landscaped areas. The robust Dutch brick outer-wall is transformed into a white rendered wall on the courtyards, that are dissolved by large areas of glazing, linking inside and out. Copper is used to accentuate key spaces within the school from the courtyards and clear linear circulation routes enable these jewels to be easily strung together. Inside, the class spaces are arranged in traditional banks, however a range of easily accessible breakout spaces off the corridor provide more flexible group working opportunities.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

The load-bearing semi-circular Dutch brick facade uses lime mortar joints, which means that no expansion joints were required. In the long-term, the mortor enables the bricks to be easily re-used and recycled.

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

A range of breakout spaces are carved out from the wedged-shaped classrooms and circulation space for individual study or group work. Each space is tailored according to the departmental specialism. All spaces look out onto the courtyard with adjacent double doors so that students can easily move inside and out.

Integrated social and physical context

The hard edges of the building create a barrier to the surrounding area, which seems an appropriate response given the surrounding urban context. Having said this, glimpses of colour and views through to the classrooms mean that the school building acts as a beacon for the community.

The building contributes to the urban design development of the area by providing a new pedestrian boulevard along the entrance to the school. The boulevard finishes at the car park, which is minimized and provides a positive contribution to the overall quality of the landscape.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

The Prayer Room and associated wudu offer opportunities for worship by people of different faiths. A flexible screen facilitates mixed or single sex prayer and the east facing large window looks onto the external boulevard.

Sources

Prime Ministers Better Buildings website

BD Online Article website

RIBA / LSC award website

Links

JCC School Images and Virtual Tour website

Project Facts

• Location: Lambeth
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2009
• Client: London Borough of Lambeth BSF
• Architect: JM Architects Website
• Size:Unknown
• Pupils: 90-100
• Construction Sum:£40M [2009]
• School building Programme/ Initiative: BSF

Overview

The renovation and refurbishment of existing schools is becoming one of the most hotly debated topics in the Building Schools for the Future programme in the UK. Half of the schools involved in the programme are being refurbished. Elm Court is a flagship project renovating and adding to a building originally dating from 1912. The building sits within a conservation area that imposes a set of development restrictions, which may partly explain the incredibly sensitive approach to dealing with the existing building fabric, whilst expressing additions in an obviously contemporary way. The existing school hall was stripped back and renovated, maintaining the existing timber roof. Floor to ceiling window openings in classroom areas were also retained, providing a beautiful quality of light for pupils to enjoy.

The new build elements do not have an overall style, with materials varying from a hi-tech planar glazed stairway on one side of the school, to a heavy leaded roof and timber brise soleil on the other side. This creates a building with different moods and atmospheres, which is obviously beneficial to a school where pupils have a range of emotional, behavioural and social needs including those who are on the autistic spectrum.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

An atrium has been established within the heart of existing building, which drives a natural ventilation system. Single aspect spaces within the building now benefit from enhanced ventilation, enabling a more pleasant working environment for pupils and teachers. New build elements follow similar natural ventilation principles, with the practical learning block featuring ventilation chimneys [echoing those on the existing building].

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

The permeability of space within the existing building has been transformed by opening up an atrium within the centre of the 'T' shaped plan. This space links to a dining hall, which opens out onto the play area/courtyard. This sequence of spaces liberates the existing building and ties in the new build elements of the school. In addition, community activities and open house activities can be more easily accommodated within the building.

Integrated social and physical context

The re-modelling has reinforced the formal main facade of the building. The period architectural detail has been retained and renovated to its former glory, providing a powerful statement to the wider community about the importance of conservation. The only modern expression is a glazed stair, which does its best to remain invisible, with the white steel structure tying in to the white window frames.

New build elements are developed at the rear of the building, providing a more enclosed secure space. The practical learning block and sports hall are built into the landscape to reduce the impact on the surrounding housing area, so that back gardens are not overlooked.

Sources

Refurbishing Historic School Buildings: English Heritage PDF download

Links

Lambeth BSF Elm Court School Video Website

• Location: Southwell, Nottinghamshire
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2007
• Client: The Minster School, Southwell Diocese
• Architect: Penoyre and Prasad Website
• Size:13837 m²
• Pupils: 1650
• Construction Sum: £24M [2010]

Overview

The Minster School lies on the edge of the small town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire.  The project was funded directly from the then DfES and the resulting programme of consultation and development work between architects and school has resulted in a building programme that is rigorous both architecturally and pedagogically.

After the Minster, the school is the second largest building and a significant new addition within the townscpe.  The school was formerly split over two sites separated across the town.  The new project provides a consolidated campus that engages with both the site and the town.

A simple palette of materials lends a sense of unity and sophistication to the project.  Red brick reflects the surrounding townscape whilst the dark stained larch boarding alludes to the agricultural heritage of the surrounding area.  Internally concrete, timber and terrazzo are set against the brick, clearly articulating a variety of spatial experiences.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

Careful consideration of the environmental impact of the school has been a core part of the design development.  Early site testing by the engineers determined that the site sat on bedrock with high artesian water contents.  The resulting design led to more efficient foundations designed to work with the various strata of the site.  Re-grading of the site prior to starting construction works minimise the excavations needed on site as well exposing localised differences in ground conditions.  This approach minimised the impact of construction vibrations on the existing school that continued to operate on an adjacent site throughout the construction programme.

Exposed concrete soffits provide thermal mass, reducing day time temperatures changes.  These are combined with a night time cooling strategy that purges the concrete of excess heat.

Computer modelling was used to maximise the benefits of natural ventilation.  This led to a strategy of high and low level opening windows combined with ventilation chimneys to each class space.  Windows are connected to a Building Management System [BMS] that automatically opens them when class temperatures are to high, helping to reduce CO2 build up.

Materials have been chosen for their low toxicity and high recycled content.  A breathing wall pre-fabricated timber frame construction further helps to moderate the classroom atmosphere.

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

The school is organised along a linear route known as the heart space. The school hall and drama studio face a large learning space at the mid-point of the heart space. Flexible partitions enable them to open out onto the central space providing opportunities to stage events at a variety of scales.

The circulation and construction of the classroom wings have been carefully considered to enable the easy adaptation to future educational needs.  The structure is designed in such a way that partitions between classrooms can be altered in the future.  The stair cores are placed in such a way as to facilitate future adaptation.

Windows into the classrooms improve the quality of space within the internalised corridors and add to the transparency and legibility of the building.

Integrated social and physical context

Close links between the school and Minster have existed over the school's 900 year history.  The 'heart space' has transformed the relationship between school and town, facilitating events from music and drama evenings to farmers' markets.

The 'heart space' references the proportions of the Minster's nave, giving the school an immediate sense of the familiar to the local community. The plan form of the school knits into the landscape, creating a series of courtyards and terraces enclosed by the 'fingers' that extend out from the heart space.

The building fabric  links the building to both the predominantly red brick town and the surrounding agricultural countryside.  Whilst the material palette is used to clearly articulate the building massing, the pattern of fenestration fails to extol the virtues of the building's interior subtlety or its civic status.

Examples of stakeholder and user participation in the design process

The architects and school worked closely throughout the process to ensure that the building supports the learning and teaching aims of the school.  Whilst Penoyre & Prasad Architects had a strong record in social and educational projects they had not undertaken a complete new build school prior to the Minster School commission.  The selection panel at competitive interview felt that they were a risky choice but were convinced that the architects really wanted to engage with the school throughout the design process.  The result has paid off and offers a school environment that has already been recognised by Ofsted for its improved standards since the move to the new campus.

Sources

Building Design Paper, Website

World Architecture News, Website

Links

Bureau Happold, Website

The Minster School, Website

Project Facts

• Location: Ealing
• Country: UK
• Year of Completion: 2008
• Client: St. Benedicts School
• Architect: Buschow Henley Website
• Size: ~2000m²
• Pupils: 650 [senior school] 250 [junior school]
• Construction Sum:Not known
• School building Programme/ Initiative: N/A

Overview

The Cloisters, designed for St. Benedicts School in Ealing is a cleverly designed insertion to an existing school that unifies both the ad hoc set of buildings and provides a focal hub for communal activities. In addition, the new building provides universal access to the rest of the school and additional classroom facilities. In re-interpreting the Benedictine cloister for the 21st century, the design provides a solution that satisfies the schools practical requirements whilst enhancing the schools link to its historic roots.

The austerity and sobriety of the Cloisters acts as a counterpoint to many other schools developed in the UK recently that use colour and materials to help generate a vibrant atmosphere. The weighty concrete columns that frame the central space and polished concrete floors give a sense of gravitas, reinforcing Benedictine principles.

Themes

Integrated environmental design

The main environmental design consideration is the thermal mass of the cast concrete columns and floor structure. The concrete absorbs and releases heat over a period of time, smoothing out the peaks and troughs of daily temperature changes throughout the year.

Integrated flexibility for space and learning

The Cloisters offers flexibility throughout the school day. In the morning and between lessons 24 sets of doors are opened and the space is used by students for circulation between classes. For whole school assemblies the doors remain open, providing 400m² of space for people to congregate. For smaller meetings and performances the doors are closed providing a more intimate 225m² space. In addition, the Cloisters help ameliorate the various level changes between the existing surrounding buildings by way of a set of carefully organised ramps.

Integrated social and physical context

A new visitor entrance to the school is picked out in gold, in contrast to the concrete panels that clad the majority of the exterior. Two gold 'wings' project from the entrance providing what the architects describe as an abstraction of the 'open handed Benedictine gesture of welcome'. The gold entrance stands out when viewing from the street, framed in elevation by the new building behind which is designed to represent the aisle and nave of a church.

Innovative solutions to specific areas or smaller spaces

Student storage lockers are positioned on the first floor around the edge of the cloister and full height glazing creates a connection with the hall below, again reinforcing the cloister form. It is interesting to consider the kinds of informal conversations that students have in this area compared to those hushed voices of the Benedictine order between the columns of their cloisters.

A new chapel sits above the hall and is visible through the coffered roof. Accessible from the second floor it crowns the cloisters and provides a place for contemplation and prayer. Marked by a cross shaped window opening, the engineered timber shell provides a warmer interior in contrast to the cool concrete below.

Sources

Lynch, P. Architecture Today, 194, January 2009

BCSE 2009 award booklet website

Links

St. Benedicts School website