The Bobby Moore Academy Secondary School opened its doors to Year 7 and Year 8 children in September. It marks the completion of the new all-through Bobby Moore Academy located in the heart of the Olympic Park.
Set on one of the smallest secondary school sites in London – less than 3600m2, the 6FE school will cater for 1,140 pupils. It provides much-needed education and community facilities to support the growing local neighbourhood while capitalising on the first-class sporting and future cultural facilities that the Park has to offer. Our design has created a new exemplar for the high-rise school, 9,240m2 of diverse learning and social spaces in a three-dimensional matrix across six stories, visually and physically connected through voids, screens and walkways.
The building’s strong architectural presence matches those of the existing iconic structures of the Stadium, Orbit and Aquatics Centre. Its articulated form presents a bold civic presence to the Park, fronting a new public space overlooking the Mill City River. Architecturally, it has a kinship with its smaller sibling, the Bobby Moore Academy Primary School, opened last year and located due west on the other side of the Olympic Park. The crisply detailed palette of two-tone brick slips in a woven pattern of glazed and matt finishes, the deep aluminium window reveals punctuated with bright yellow accents, and the carefully articulated massing creates a distinctive identity for the schools.