BSF Exemplar: What does a new school on a tight urban site look like?
Commissioned as part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative, this exemplar design is for a secondary school on a restricted urban site. These elements can then be adapted to create a building that meets the specific requirements of an individual school and its local community.
The ground level of this multi storey building is accessible and visible, with all shared and community facilities including sports hall, dining and assembly, located here to create a ‘civic ground’. The formal learning areas are lifted above and designed to be more adaptable to changing pedagogies.
These spaces are conceived as a ‘learning rig’, a set of floor plates with only two or four internal columns that can be planned as cellular rooms or open learning areas. An innovative façade provides very low energy heating and ventilation to each class space and employs glazing with light bending technology to bring daylight deep into the spaces.
The vertical circulation was organised as a set of ‘light links’- mini atria connecting the rigs with circulation and services as well as accommodating resource areas, social spaces and terraces.
The landscape design maximises the opportunities offered by a relatively small external space, and includes a roof garden design. Together all these components made a kit of parts to be used to create variety within a set of standards.
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BSF Exemplar: What does a new school on a tight urban site look like?
